ROURKELA: Thousands of tribals on Saturday staged demonstration in Sundargarh town to protest the state government’s drive to evict encroachers from government land.
The agitators from across the district gathered under the banner of Sundargarh Maati Banchao Manch and sent a memorandum to Governor Raghubar Das and Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi through Sundargarh ADM (General) RN Sahoo. The agitators claimed they have been residing on uninhabited land and also farming on it for generations. If the land is taken away by the government, it will render them homeless.
They said Sundargarh is a scheduled district where PESA and Forest Rights Act are applicable yet the government has made no efforts to provide forest land rights to tribals. They also demanded land rights for the landless tribals and the withdrawal of the order to remove encroachment from government land. The district administration had recently received instructions from the Revenue Department to free government land from encroachment.
The agitators were supported by Congress whose MLA from Rajgangpur, CS Raazen Ekka said tribals have been fighting for their rights for the last 24 years. He said during the BJD regime, a hi-tech satellite survey was done to identify and take away tribal land and the BJP government is now taking it forward and handing over tribal land to mining and industrial houses.