Guwahati, Oct. 6: Hundreds of protesters from several districts of Assam demonstrated for two hours at Last Gate in Dispur here this morning to demand the universalisation of and a corruption-free public distribution system to check the rising prices of essentials.

The protesters, under the banner of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, a Golaghat-based forum, submitted a memorandum to a district administration official.

They demanded that the government provide ration cards to all citizens and include 50 per cent of the population in the BPL category.

The samiti’s general secretary, Akhil Gogoi, an award-winning RTI activist, said its members, poor and marginalised farmers, would assemble at the same venue tomorrow to seek the Centre’s intervention.

“Such has been the impact of the price rise that potato, onion, mustard oil and dal have gone beyond the reach of the poor villagers, leading to malnourishment. Since the mafia controls the PDS system, it is difficult to control the price rise. Therefore, we have moved the government to provide all citizens with ration cards and include at least 50 per cent of our population in the BPL category,” he said.

The samiti, formed in 2005 to effect land reforms, 100 per cent irrigation of agricultural land and the control of people’s rights over natural resources, also demanded the inclusion of items like oil, vegetables, dal, egg, meat, which are rich in calories, for distribution under the PDS.

In December 2007, the samiti had used the RTI Act to expose the diversion of foodgrains from PDS allotted to the poor in Golaghat, Jorhat and Sivasagar districts.

It also demanded the effective implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in the state.

Claiming that the scheme has became a farce in Assam, the samiti resented that scores of families had not been issued job cards and some applications for job cards had not been accepted.

It demanded that the daily remuneration under the NREGS should be increased from Rs 80 to Rs 100 this year and the same should be hiked to Rs 200 next year.

The samiti also sought land pattas for tribal and indigenous people under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

It opposed the construction of big hydroelectric dams in Arunachal Pradesh, arguing that it would have a “catastrophic” effect on downstream areas in Assam, including increased flood vulnerability, agricultural losses and loss of fisheries.

The majority of the protesters were from Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Silchar, Darrang, Dhubri, Kamrup, Golaghat and Tinsukia.