The tribal people of Buriga and China Konela hilltop hamlets in Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district staged a novel protest, demanding issue of ‘forest permissions’ for laying of a road, on Sunday (March 2, 2025). The road will also benefit the people of five other hamlets, according to the tribal people.

The District Collector had issued orders in July, 2024, giving administrative sanction for formation of the road from Vonija to China Konela at an estimated cost of ₹3 crore. The work was not started due to lack of permission from the Forest Department for laying of the road. The Adivasis are demanding immediate issue for forest clearances.

Sara Kottaiah of China Konela had gone with his family for working in a brick kiln in Guntur district in the past. His one-and-a-half year old son Eswara Rao had died due to some sickness in April, last year. The hospital, where he was treated in Guntur district, had arranged an ambulance to transport the body to China Konela.

The ambulance driver dropped Kottaiah and his wife, and the body of Eswara Rao at Vonija village of Mentada mandal in Vizianagaram late in the night. Though there is a ‘kutcha’ road to China Konela from the Kasipatnam side, the driver avoided it as the round about route would take an additional 25 km, and that road was also in bad shape.

The couple trekked 8 km up and down the hill, carrying the body of their one-and-half year old son. The heart-rending incident made the headlines in The Hindu as also in other dailies and brought into focus the travails of the tribal people in the absence of proper roads. The ASR district Collector and the ITDA PO reacted to the issue and an amount ₹3 crore was sanctioned for the road. However, the Forest officials are yet to grant clearances for laying of the road.

The tribal say that forest permissions are given to power plants and granite quarries without any delays but when it comes to laying of a road to their hamlets, the Forest officials were delaying the same.

The protest was led by Somula Appalaraju, Konaparthi Simhachalam and Buriga Veerayya. They said that forest approvals were not yet given for the road construction projects, for which the foundation stone was laid by Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan in July, 2024.

CPI-M district secretariat member K. Govinda Rao said that they would stage a protest at the office of the Chief Conservator of Forests in Visakhapatnam city, if the forest clearances were not given without further delay.