The Hindu : Front Page : Efforts on to end Chengara agitation

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Friday, Aug 22, 2008
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Efforts on to end Chengara agitation

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A small window of opportunity to bring the year-old Chengara land struggle by landless people belonging to the Scheduled Castes and other deprived sections was opened here on Thursday with Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran and Minister for Welfare of Backward and Scheduled Communities A.K. Balan holding talks with the agitation leaders.

The Ministers, who held an hour-long discussion with agitation leader Laha Gopalan and other solidarity council leaders, promised them that the government would do everything within its power to meet their demand for provision of land to the landless among the Scheduled Castes and other similarly placed sections and assured them that there was no question of the government resorting to or permitting anyone to resort to repressive measures against the agitators who have been occupying the estate of the Harrisons Malayalam Plantations at Chengara in Pathanamthitta district for over a year now.

Mr. Balan and Mr. Rajendran also offered to facilitate another meeting between the agitation leaders and the Chief Minister at the earliest, but cautioned the agitators that the government could promise to give them only land that is already with it or that which could be taken over without the possibility of further litigations. The government had only very limited extent of land in its possession in Pathanamthitta district. Appropriate land would have to be found in other places if the landless were to be provided with land. The government would expedite the ongoing efforts to identify and take over excess land and this would be provided to the landless within a specific time-frame, they explained.

The leaders made it clear that they were not demanding assignment of the estate land to them. What they wanted was a package that would meet their demand for land at the earliest. They pleaded with the government to intervene to put an end to the intimidation of the agitators by plantation workers.

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