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Marathon dharna for land completes 125 days

Staff Reporter

Rallying point: Activists of ‘Bhumi Adhikar’ (land right) campaign in a rally to mark the completion of 125 days of agitation in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.

BHUBANESWAR: A marathon dharna that began here in demand of ’land for landless’ completed 125 days on Wednesday as a colourful procession was taken to strengthen the resolve to exert pressure on the State Gvernment.

The 231-day satyagrah was launched on March 8 by activists of Ekta Parishad pleading distribution of wasteland among tribals and landless population of the state.

Activists have been sitting in on Mahamta Gandhi Marg for past three months to bring the issue to the notice of lawmakers who have assembled thrice in State Assembly during this time.

To make a concerted effort, several rallies were also organised in different tribal-dominated districts to spread awareness on land rights. "We will continue to sit here for 231 days. We are not going to move away from the capital city. This is a question of basic rights of landless people in the State," Rajagopal PV, Chairman of Ekta Parishad, told the gathering.

The Ekta Parishad said there had been uninterrupted illegal transfers of land from the adivasis to non-adivasis of the State, so much so that nearly 84 per cent of the total land in scheduled areas of the state belonged to either Government or non-adivasis.

The situation arose because of non-serious implementation of the land reform laws in the State and the provisions of providing the wasteland for homestead and agricultural purpose to landless people were done half-heartedly, it said.

During last 125 days most of the tribal families have sat on dharna on rotation basis and the place of peaceful agitation was also changed from one place to another in the city.

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