Nabarangpur: Twenty people including a forest guard were seriously injured Friday morning in a clash between two groups over use of forest land in Ghadadhanua village under Kosagumuda block in Nabarangpur district.
Sources said, forest officials had called residents of different villages under Kosagumuda block in the district to Ghadadhanua village. They wanted to conduct a meeting in order to allocate forest land equally among the villagers. The discussions turned ugly when an altercation started among the villagers regarding the distribution. Then the arguments snowballed into a violent clash.
It should be stated here that the forest department has launched an afforestation programme in 27 acres of reserve forest land near Ghadadhanua, Kadabhata, Janiguda, Dangariguda, Kakadaguda and Dhadadhanua villages. It has asked the residents of these villages to use forest produces from the area marked for afforestation. However, the villagers have been at loggerheads with each other over the use of land.
To solve the problem, officials of the forest department had called for a meeting. But they did not expect what followed. The villagers pelted stones and used sticks as they clashed. People were mercilessly beaten up.
The violent villagers also attacked the forest guards present at the spot. While most of the forest department personnel fled the spot, one guard could not do so. He sustained serious injuries. He along with 19 other injured villagers was admitted to the district headquarters hospital for treatment.
The forest department later registered two separate FIRs against the villagers at the Kosagumuda police station.
PNN