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Tribal body to defer peace march

BERHAMPUR: The tribal organisation, Lok Sangram Manch (LSM) decided to defer its planned peace march in communal violence-hit areas of Kandhmal district at the persuasion of the administration.

The tribal organisation had planned to take up this peace march by foot on Feb 11 from Daringbadi to Brahmanigaon. The Kandhamal district administration had denied giving permission to this ‘padyatra’ by the LSM. But the LSM activists had threatened to take up their proposed ‘peace march’ violating the restrictions of the administration.

To avoid confrontation, the revenue divisional commissioner (RDC), southern division, Satyabrata Sahu called up the leaders of LSM for discussion at his office on Saturday.

The Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) of Police, R.P.Koche was also present. Leaders of the LSM, Bhala Chandra Sarangi and Raghunath Padhi attended this meeting.

Mr Sahu was able to convince the tribal leaders that their ‘padyatra’ for peace would only invoke more tension in the area. The tribal leaders were convinced with the arguments of Mr Sahu. Till now administration has not allowed any political party or religious organisation to hold any rally or meeting as they may be misused. The administration also prevented the VHP activists from holding a yagna at Chakapada in Kandhmal district.

The LSM leaders accepted that their proposed peace march would only help communal forces to misuse the whole thing. “So, we decided to defer our peace march”, Mr Sarangi said. The RDC has also agreed to hold detailed discussions with LSM representatives on Feb 18 to discuss problems of tribals in Kandhamal district.

Mr Sarangi said they had started contacting their representatives in accessible villages from Saturday afternoon to inform about the cancellation of peace march.

The tribals were already organised for that. On Sunday the LSM has called a meeting of its village level leaders at Daringbadi so that they could be told the reasons behind the cancellation. These leaders would take the message of cancellation of peace march to the remote areas so that tribals do not congregate at Daringbadi on Feb 11.

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