Ranchi, March 5: Tension is brewing in several villages under Tamar and Bundu areas of Ranchi where villagers are fighting a battle against “land grabbers” and officials.
The fight to get back land from the “grabbers” has, however, gained momentum with the involvement of the CPI-ML activists who have taken up the battle on their behalf.
The party organised a jan adalat (people’s court) at the Nawadih High School recently to take up the matter.
Land had been leased out to landless villagers during the “bhoodan” movement, launched in 1970-71 and in 1988-89, respectively. The villagers had been paying taxes to the government against the land allotted to them. While in some cases the leased out land was not handed over to the lessee, in others it had been grabbed from the holder on one pretext or the other.
The villagers have threatened to clamp a “janata curfew” in the area if the authorities do not restore their land by March 31.
“We have set March 31 as the deadline for the authorities to act and give the land back to the original lessee. If they fail we will declare a curfew and lock all government establishments in Tamar and Bundu. We will also stop government officers, legislators, members of Parliament and ministers from entering the area,” said CPI-ML activist Manoj Gupta.
The villagers furnished a copy of the letter written by the sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Khunti last year, which directed the Tamar circle officer to work in the direction of restoring the land to the allotees.
But the villagers alleged that despite several representations, the circle officer did not pay heed to their demands and the land was never restored.
The local CPI-ML activists held a jan adalat to “try” the cases of land grab. “We have been working in the area and have prepared a list of landless peasants who have been allotted land but whose land continues to be in the possession of somebody else. We have sent the list to the Ranchi district administration. But the authorities are yet to act,” a CPI-ML state committee member said.
