http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/26/stories/2008102650170100.htm
Front Page SC/ST commission visits Chengara Staff Reporter PATHANAMTHITTA: The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission, P.K. Sivanandan, visited the Kumbazha Estate at Chengara, which had been encroached upon by Sadhu Jana Vimochana Samyukta Vedi (SJVSV) workers, as part of their struggle for land since for past 14 months, on Saturday. District Collector P.C. Sanalkumar and Thiruvalla Tahasildar M.J. Jaisingh also accompanied the Commission. Official sources said the Commission's visit was following reports of the spread of water-borne diseases there and the vedi's allegations of denial of medical aid and food to the poor landless SC/ST families on the encroached land. SJVSV workers have been demanding five acres of land and cash worth Rs.50,000 for each landless family among them. The plantation workers, rendered jobless following the encroachment of the rubber plantation, had also been staging a road blockade at the nearby Athumbamkulam, denying entry to all outsiders into the estate for the past three months. They had been protesting against the delay in clearing the encroachment.
