Now Farmers Rise against Mayawati Govt in Chandauli after Bhatta-Parsaul Bhatta-Parsaul type of situation is prevailing at the other end of Uttar Pradesh – at Katesar village of Niyamtabad block in Chandauli district. The peasants of this village are on dharna since 24 May to save their land. The Govt of UP is acquiring 200 hectares of land here to make ‘New Kashi’ and a cultural centre. Varanasi Development Authority has been entrusted to do this. Section 4 and Section 6 notice has already been issued to acquire 121 hectares of fertile land belonging to farmers in the first phase.
The farmers of Katesar are up in arms against the land acquisition as the land in question is the main source of their livelihood. The land is close to river Ganga and fertile in which they grow vegetables etc. that brings them their income. They have said that they will not part with their land at any cost and in any case the official compensation they will receive is not at all enough to buy land elsewhere. They also alleged that the Govt. has already finalised transactions with a construction company in which the Govt will make profit by selling the land to the company at a higher rate. They are fearing that the Govt will forcefully acquire their land at throwaway prices and they will be left with no other means of livelihood. The brutal suppression of farmers at Bhatta-Parsaul by the Mayawati Govt in UP reminded us of Singur and Nandigram. Now the Govt of UP is virtually looting agricultural land of poor and middle level farmers at gun point – to be given away to private companies. Katesar is mainly inhabited by poor and small-land holding farmers. Almost whole village will disappear if this acquisition becomes a reality; affecting more than one thousand people. Section 6 notice will mean their eviction. The peasants had started their protest dharna on 25 April 2011 and after verbal assurance by district officials to stop acquisition had withdrawn their protest on 7th May. But in the meantime the administration restarted their acquisition drive. Infuriated at this the peasants too restarted their dharna near the Grand Trunk Road close to village from 24 May under the banner of Kisan Sangharsh Samiti. Their main demand is cancellation of the Section 4 notice that relates to land acquisition, and a written assurance be given against the acquisition. CPI(ML) has declared its support for the farmers agitation and it took out a 15 km long motorcycle rally on 30th May from Mughalsarai to Katesar where the rally carrying red flags and Party banners merged with the dharna. CPI(ML) leaders also addressed the dharna. Prior to this CPI(ML) and All India Kisan Mahasabha leaders had visited the Katesar village to meet the farmers and find out the objective situation. With no official response coming for the dharna the farmers had encircled the SDM and CO of police for three hours when they visited the dharna spot on 28th May. Later, somehow they managed to escape. Seeing the militant mood of the farmers the administration got into some active mode. Other parties too apart from the CPI(ML) declared their support for the agitation. It is not easy for the administration to repeat Bhatta-Parsaul kind of brutality in Katesar and so it has initiated a dialogue with the farmers. However, nothing fruitful has come out of these talks. The DM gave in writing that the land will not be acquired by force but the farmers are not going to be fooled unless the Section 4 & 6 notice is withdrawn. They also warned that if the demands are not met they will burn Mayawati Govt’s affigy on 31st May and also set themselves ablaze on 1st June. The fear of losing their land and hopelessness from this Govt is so acute that they even readied a funeral pyre nearby. The CPI(ML) demanded from the State Govt to scrap the plan for land acquisition and warned the Mayawati Govt from repeating Bhatta-Parsaul here. The Chandauli district Party unit said that it will defend the farmers in the event of repressive actions. The Party also declared that any repressive action will be strongly opposed. Finally, bowing before the farmers’ agitation the Chandauli DM sent his recommendation on 30th May to State Govt for withdrawal of Section 4 & 6 notices. SDM came with a copy of DM’s recommendation letter to dharna spot on 31st May morning and asked for a month’s time. Postponing their further agitation the farmers have declared that if the demands are not met in the month’s time the agitation will resume. source: M L update weekly -- You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole. -AMBEDKAR http://venukm.blogspot.com http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
