Tribals protest grabbing of land by mafia

Kishanganj, Nov 22 (UNI) Hundreds of tribals took out a procession here to protest the administration's 'failure' to dispossess land mafia and tea gardeners from government land and restore it to the landless and bona-fide people.

The Adhikar Vanchit Garib Rally, sponsored by Surjapuri Vikash Manch (SVM), was led by septuagenarian SVM chief Tara Chand Dhanuka.

The rallyists reached here from Thakurganj and Pothia blocks.

Thakurganj JD(U) MLA Gopal Kumar Agrawal, who participated in the rally, charged the district authorities with cocking a snook at the directive of the Patna High Court as well as umpteen reminders from the state government.

Mr Agarwal told reporters that they were not submitting their seven-point memorandum to the District Magistrate (DM) as a mark of protest against the authorities' 'extreme insensitivity and callousness' in this regard and to expose how it had 'genuflected' before the mighty land mafia and others.

''We are rather pasting the copy of the memorandum on the gate,'' he said adding the memorandum also called for inclusion of left-over names in the BPL (below the poverty line) list.

District Magistrate Feraque Ahmad, however, asserted that no tribal or other people had complained about their land being forcibly occupied or grabbed.

''On the contrary, they are more than happy to work in the tea gardens and reap daily wages,'' he said.

Nonetheless, the revenue officials and others have already been directed to verify the alleged complaints of the tribals.

UNI XC-KKS PL RJ UCS1817