Tribals protest SEZ on their land

Sundargarh, June 15 (UNI) Thousands of tribals today marched through the streets here to protest the SEZ on their land and establish their right over land, water and forest.

The demonstrators, organised by several social organisations of the state, paid tribute to Birsa Munda, Netaji Subhash Bose and Swami Vivekananda while passing through the main thoroughfares of the street.

Later, several speakers, including Chief Coordinator of the rally Bharat Bhusan Thakur, Birendra Bhai from Jharkhand, Pilaram Patel from Chhattisgarh and social activists from Orissa criticised the state as well as the central government for leasing out mines and handing over land for industrial purposes at the cost of the livelihoods of millions of farmers and tribals.

They alleged that thousands of acres of land in Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh had lost productivity due to largescale industrialisation and pollution causing serious threat to the lives of the people.

The speakers dubbed the SEZ as another form of establishing foreign land in India,be POSCO, Vedanta, Bhusan, Tata Steels and, Jindal. The tribals, later took a pledge not to spare even an inch of their land for SEZ and other industries in their area.

UNI