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Radical land reform sought

PUDUCHERRY: The Puducherry unit of the All India Agricultural Labourers’ Association (AIALA) on Friday decided to hold a protest rally near the Assembly on March 27 in support of their demands such as radical land reform, house sites or group houses for the roofless and distribution of two acres of land to the farmhands in the Union Territory.

State convener of the association M.A. Akbar told reporters here that the government should announce that five acres would be the land ceiling in rural areas. Demanding withdrawal of exemption given to temples, mutts, ashrams, trusts, industries and educational institutions from land ceiling Act, he said the surplus land should be redistributed to the landless farm workers.

The number of working days under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act should be enhanced to 200 in a year with each beneficiary getting a daily wage of Rs.150, he said, pleading for action against illegal diversion of rice meant for the scheme.

The association also called for steps to update the list of the people living below-the-poverty-line by including the names of eligible persons and deleting the names of the ineligible persons. To provide relief to the pavement dwellers in the urban areas and the roofless in the rural areas, the government should come forward to construct group houses or allot house sites to an extent of five cents each, Mr.Akbar said.

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