Villagers armed with traditional weapons protest against land acquisition in Kanke on Tuesday. (Prashant Mitra)

After Nagri, it’s Dubalia, Rando, Patratu, Chutua and Sangrampur.

A fresh controversy has broken out over acquisition of 256 acres in Kanke block, barely 15km from Ranchi, for constructing houses for the homeless poor.

More than 300 villagers armed with traditional weapons laid siege to the Kanke block office on Tuesday, protesting against acquisition of tribal land for constructing houses on a “no-profit-no-loss” basis by Jharkhand State Housing Board (JSHB).

The protest started around 1pm and continued for two hours as villagers shouted slogans like “Jaan denge par jameen nahin denge” and “jameen ki loot bardhast nahin, bardhast nahin”. The protest was led by patron of Jameen Bachao Sangharsh Samiti Sandeep Oraon.

“The gram sabha has decided not to spare land for the housing board project and thus any attempt to acquire the land will be violation of Pesa, which is illegal,” he told The Telegraph.

Asked why the gram sabha was not interested in a project that would provide shelter to hundreds of homeless, Oraon claimed that tribal identity was associated with land. According to him, the land to be acquired was burial and religious ground and a large portion of it was also being used for agricultural purpose for years.

Matters came to a head when land acquisition officer of the district S.K. Lal started the process by issuing notices to the gram sabha on June 13 for a no objection. However, the gram sabha decided on June 26 not to spare any land and communicated its decision. However, the villagers alleged, despite the decision, the acquisition process was kept alive and efforts were being made to deposit the compensation amount in the treasury.

“We came here after we heard the decision of the gram sabha was being overruled. When the gram sabha does not want to spare the land, it is wrong to do any underhand dealing in the matter,” said Keya Dey, founder of Bastee Bachao Manch, who had come to the block to show support to the villagers.

Meanwhile, Ranchi deputy commissioner Vinay Kumar Choubey made it clear that land would not be acquired in the five villages. “The housing board had identified land in the five villages of Kanke block. But when the gram sabha is not ready to spare the land, there is no question of acquiring it,” he said.