BHUBANESWAR: At a time when the government pledged to facilitate acquisition of over 1,50,000 acres of land for different industrial and mining projects, a group of activists on Thursday launched a 231-day `satyagraha' seeking distribution of wasteland to tribals and landless families of the State.

People of all the 30 districts of the State who were victims of land alienation and land-related injustice were likely to join the dharna. "We are aiming at providing a forum for some 20,000 landless people to raise their voice and ask for a better deal in the wake of frantic appeals for land from industrial houses in the State. We are not going to move away from the State Capital before completion of the satyagraha," said Rajagopal P.V., chairman of Ekta Parishad, a voluntary organisation.

He said that if the State had enough land to distribute to multinational companies such as POSCO, Tata, Reliance and Jindal, why it could not give patches of wasteland to tribal and landless families.

The activists and affected people who would be participating plan to use `charakha', do fasting, say daily prayers and conduct `pravat pheries' every day to put the message of Gandhian philosophy across to policy makers and people at large.

As per the Revenue Department statistics, the State has 4,45,450 landless families against 1,22,765 acres of wasteland (homestead) and 5,40,725 acres of wasteland that could be used for agricultural purpose.

Appalling scenario

Conflicts over land have become critical over the years with industrial houses increasingly stepping into the State with proposals of large and medium projects. The situation has come to such a pass that not many big projects are taking off.

Veteran Sarvodaya leader A.V. Swamy blamed the government. "The people handling affairs have utterly failed to assess the likely impact of industrialisation. What is appalling is that the government does not have any plan to tackle the problem of displacement," Mr. Swamy said. He said the State government was pressurised by industrial houses.

"When companies could export finished product to places far away from the project area, why are they always insisting on pithead operation. This results in large-scale displacement and tribals suffer the most."

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