The Hindu : National : Tribals vow to oppose displacement

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Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007
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Tribals vow to oppose displacement

Prafulla Das

KALINGA NAGAR: Thousands of tribals who attended a public meeting here on Tuesday to pay tributes to the 13 persons killed in police firing in this industrial township in Orissa's Jajpur district on January 2 last year announced that they would oppose displacement across the country.

No cultivable or forest land should be handed over to private companies to set up industries or special economic zones either in Orissa or any other part of the country, the tribals said.

Alleging that the existing resettlement and rehabilitation policies were `pro-industry,' those present at the meeting vowed to continue their struggle against displacement that was making people sacrifice their land and livelihood sources.

More than 10,000 tribals and members of pro-tribal mass organisations and political outfits from Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra attended the meeting.

They demanded that all States and the Centre stop transfer of tribal land in scheduled areas and other areas to non-tribals and restore all unlawful alienation of land. To ensure this, stringent provisions should be incorporated into the State and Central regulations.

The meeting was organised by the Bisthapan Virodhi Janmanch, which has been spearheading the anti-displacement agitation in Kalinga Nagar since the police firing.

The police opened fire when the tribals were agitating against the construction of a boundary wall for a Tata Steel project.

About the ongoing agitation by the tribals against the project, the meeting decided no to allow the plant to come up in the area.

Blocking of highway

The blocking of the Daitari-Paradip highway will continue until the Government initiated a meaningful dialogue with the agitating tribals, Janmanch secretary Rabindra Jarika said. Although the district administration had been trying to pacify the tribals, no Orissa Minister has visited the place since the firing incident.

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