Villagers lock up forest officers

SANGAREDDY: Villagers of Krishnapuram in Kalher mandal on Sunday locked up forest officers in the panchayat office for nearly six hours and even tried to manhandle them.The drama ended with the intervention of police and other officials.The villagers confined the officers for harassing them when they collected firewood even while letting off teak smugglers. Villagers of Krishnapuram and nearby villages complained that the forest officers threaten them of registering cases if found with firewood while leave the smugglers scot-free.On Saturday evening, the villagers found teak being smuggled from the forest and brought the vehicle transporting it to the village. Soon they called up the forest officers and informed them about the smuggling. But the officers turned up on Sunday morning.The villagers were angry with beat officer Narayana as he had abused them when they informed him about the illegal transportation of teak. In a fit of rage, they attacked Narayana and section officer Srinivas and locked them up in the village panchayat office.On information about the lock up, forest officers and police reached the village and pacified the villagers. Beat officer Narayana tendered apology to the villagers.