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Tension prevails in Narayanpatna

BERHAMPUR: Volatile Narayanpatna block in Koraput district became more tense on Monday when hundreds of armed activists of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha (CMAS) forcibly took over around 800 acres of agricultural land in the area.

They also started ploughing the land that they took over.

They planted red flags around the agricultural land taken over by them to proclaim it to be theirs. As per the official records these agricultural land patches belong to the non-tribals. But the CMAS activists do not accept it and say the non-tribals had taken over the land by deceit.

The non-tribals who still live in the area did not have the guts to protest the activities of armed tribals.

It may be noted that the violent activities of CMAS activists which includes murder and arson has led to large scale exodus of non-tribals from the area in recent past. The activists targeted agricultural land near Narayanpatna, Kumbhari, Palaput, Bikrampur, Balipeta villages.

The activities of the CMAS on Monday seemed to be a planned one.

They tried to block the roads leading to Narayanpatna by felling trees from Sunday night. The Laxmipur-Narayanpatna road was blocked near Palaput.

This road could be cleared up by noon. Trees were also cut down to disrupt traffic on the Bandhugaon-Narayanpatna road.

This road had not been cleared by afternoon.

The Koraput Collector, Bichitrananda Das and Superintendent of Police (SP), Dipak Chouhan rushed to the spot to take note of the situation and to hold talks with the leaders of the CMAS. Till now the efforts to pacify the angry CMAS activists has not been successful.

The CMAS is said to be related to a CPI (ML) party active in the State . Although there are allegations that this organisation has naxal links, the CMAS leaders have denied the allegation. But it may be noted that Narayanpatna is also a major hub of naxals in Koraput district.

The CMAS activists allege that traditional tribal land has been taken over by non-tribals by deceit.

They also targeted the Sundhi community of the area, who are traditionally attached to liquor trade.

The CMAS has also directed their supporters not to let plantations of Forest Department on land used by them.

They also destroyed a large nursery of the Forest Department in the area with the allegation that this nursery was enabling non-tribals to take away rights of tribals on forests. Despite presence of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the CMAS activists continued with their anarchy.

The administration has not yet been able to hit the right chord of the new organisation, which has become a major law and order problem in naxal infested Koraput district.

The dialogue of Koraput district Collector, Bichitrananda Das with the leader of CMAS, Nachika Linga and the directive of the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), southern division, Satyabrata Sahu to initiate measures for the settlement of disputes related to tribal has not brought in much result.

The intentions of CMAS still remain an enigma for authorities.

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