Kerala - Kannur   

Adivasis to take out march to Secretariat on Tuesday

Staff Reporter

`Bid to scuttle rehabilitation process'

KANNUR: The Rashtriya Maha Sabha (RMS) said here on Wednesday that there was a political conspiracy behind the move to evict Adivasi families from Aralam Farm. It accused the Communist Party of India (Marxist) of attempts to control the entire farmland as its `party property'.

Addressing a press conference, RMS general secretary M. Geethanandan said the eviction move in the wake of a recent High Court order was part of a bid to `grab' half of the 7,000-acre farm purchased by the State Government from the Centre by paying Rs. 42 crore from the Adivasi rehabilitation fund. He said the demand by political parties, especially the CPI(M), that half of the land be retained as farm could not have been motivated by reasons other than an attempt to grab the land. None of the political parties had demanded takeover of the farm for rehabilitation of farm workers before it was purchased for rehabilitation of the Adivasis, he said.

Alleging efforts to scuttle the Adivasi rehabilitation process in the farm, Mr. Geethanandan said over 6,500 landless Adivasi families in Kannur and Wayanad had submitted applications for the land. As per an understanding at the time of the purchase the farm, two-thirds of Adivasis from Wayanad district and one-third from Kannur district would be settled in the farm, he said adding that as of now only 840 families had been assigned land in the farm.

Eviction

The RMS leader said the present eviction move was with the intention of limiting the rehabilitation to 3,500 acres where only 2,200 families could be settled. The RMS would start an agitation demanding that the entire farmland be used for the rehabilitation, he said adding that complaints had been sent to the National Scheduled Tribe Commission and the Comptroller and Auditor General.

The Adivasis from the two districts would enter the farmland, including the blocks that were proposed to be retained, as the farm as part of the agitation to declare their right on the land, he said. Adivasis will also hold a Secretariat march on December 19.

A demand for withdrawing cases registered against Adivasis in connection with the Muthanga incidents would also be raised as part of the agitation, he added.

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