Report from Jharkhand :
Condemn the Killing of 5 Tribals for the Illegal
Acquisition of Land by NTPC in Hazaribagh District
In the early hours of October 1, 2016, the police
opened fire on tribal people who are agitating against
the forceful acquisition of their lands under the
leadership of AzadiBachavAndolan, killing more than
four people and injuring many. AzadiBachaoAndolan
is oganising the peasants in Barkagaon area of
Hazaribagh district, which is part of the’ Visthapan
VirodhiNavNirmanMorcha, Jharkhand”.
On 11th October 2004, NTPC was allocated by
the Government of India the PakriBarawadih Coal
Block in Hazaribagh district containing an estimated
1600 million tons of coal beneath the land. The total
land area was12000 acres, covering 40 villages and
2500 acres of forest land.
Opposition to this started then by the farmers
whose land came under this allocation. The farming
area was a multi-cropping area and the fertile land
was used by the farmers as their sole source of
livelihood. At no cost the farmers were willing to give
their land.
On 6th January 2007, it was announced that a
Public Hearing would take place at 11 AM to resolve
the issue. The administration stealthily held the
Public Hearing the previous night at 11 PM. The
farmers came to know of this and attended the illegal
hearing, voicing their total opposition to the proposed
land acquisition.
False cases were filed in the courts on some of
the farmers for this opposition.
The Public Hearing results which were put out
by the Government showed that the farmers had
given their consent which was a total lie. The
harassment of the opposing farmers continued.
Under the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, 70 per
cent of affecting peoples consent was required from
the Gram Sabha which was not followed. Also, the
Forest Rights Act passed in 2006, laid down certain
conditions for acquiring forest land, which the NTPC
did not follow.
Thus in 2016 NTPC claimed to have acquired
3000 acres of forest land and 435 acres of farmers’
land and decided to go ahead with the mining project
in the forest land area. The farmers and the local
leadership opposed this start of mining operations
for which farmers and some leaders were jailed for
two months or more. The cases are still pending along
with the harassment.
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An interesting event took place on 23rd June
2011 whereby the allocation of ChattiBariatu Coal
Block was cancelled by the Government of India but
in Novemb er 2011 the Hazaribagh District
Administration transferred the said Coal Block back
to NTPC.The farmers are willing to lay down their
lives but will not give the land and the Gram Sabha
is totally opposed to it.
In the firing on 1st October from 4 AM to 6:30
AM, the Government has released four dead bodies
but three more farmers are still unaccounted for.
After firing &lathi charges on the spot, police entered
in to the villages and started to mercilessly lathi
charge even upon children and women. So more
than 50 peoples injured by bullets and lathi charge,
so many injured persons are fearing to visit hospital,
they are taking treatment by the private village
medical practitioners. The whole area has been
cordoned off by 7 battalions of armed police, Rapid
Action Force and paramilitary personnel. Section
144 is in force and what is happening inside is not
fully known.
So many organisations started the protest
against this firing and killing in all over the Jharkhand.
More than half dozen effigies of CM of Jharkhand
has been burnt only on the heart of the capital
Ranchi. Many rally and mass meetings held in front
of Governor House in Ranchi and in Hazaribagh.
On 12th & 13th Nov2016 a national convention is
going to be organisedl by the ‘AzadiBachaoAndolan’
on the subject of “Ownership of Peoples Society on
the Natural Resources”. Our party is also one of
the active participators of this convention.
In all over Jharkhand, State Government signed
MOUswith m ore than 100 companies. The
Government is facing peoples protest everywhere.
Till now eight governments were formed in the 16
years of Jharkhand’s existence. All regional and
national ruling class parties formed the Government
time to time and signed the so many MOUs. All above
ruling parties hands are sink in the peasant’s blood.
But those who whenever sit in the opposition they
try to show their “loyalty” to the people.
Displacement became the one of the main
agenda for the tribal and mulwasi (native) peoples. H
Class Struggle