The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Farm labourers threaten direct action

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 17, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Farm labourers threaten direct action

By Our Staff Reporter

BHADRACHALAM, OCT. 16. The All-India Agriculture Workers' Union State conference has resolved to go in for direct action if the Government fails to take up distribution of land to the landless.

Adopting a resolution to this effect on Saturday, leaders of the union stated that the problem of unemployment and poverty could be addressed only by solving the land issue in the State.

The union leaders said that the State had over 60 lakh acres to be distributed to the poor and landless. If the government could not make out where the land was, let the people in need of land be involved in identifying the lands that were either not in use or left barren for different reasons. The Government needed a practical and sincere approach to solve the issue, they felt.

Councils in agency areas

The conference demanded separate council for tribals in the agency areas. It wanted an all-party meeting to be convened to discuss drought conditions. It also wanted the food-for-work programme to be implemented in all the affected pockets and check on the exodus of the agriculture workers from the State.

The speakers at the conference sought remunerative prices for minor forest produce on which the majority of tribals were living on. They wanted the beedi leaf operations to be stepped up and the beedi-leaf units to be set up in Bhadrachalam area. About 650 delegates took part in the three-day conference.

Rally taken out

The union members took out a massive rally in the temple town thus concluding its three-day State-level conference today. Tribals and agricultural workers took part in large numbers. Dancing to the drumbeats, they all reached the college grounds where the rally culminated in a public meeting.

Led by the union leaders, Pathuri Ramaiah, Somaiah, Midiam Babu Rao, M.P, the rally passed through all major centres in the town. About 650 delegates who attended the conference representing various districts joined the rally with placards and banners.

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