MARGAO: United Tribals Associations Alliance (UTAA) on Monday demanded a thorough probe into the mass destruction of areca nut plantation at Verlem in Sanguem taluka.
UTAA demanded stringent action against those forest officials involved in the act within 15 days.
Briefing media persons, UTAA secretary Vishwas Gawde said tribals have been tending to the land for years now and as the old areca nut palms were providing less yield, they planted new saplings, which had grown over the last five years.
Around 450 such saplings were either cut down or uprooted by some people, who appear to be forest department staff as a pay slip of an official was found at the site, he claimed. He admitted that the land is under dispute and asserted that the tribals are deemed owners of the land as they have been cultivating it even before Liberation.
