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Agri land won`t be allowed to be acquired: Soren
JMM supremo Soren said the government would not allow acquisition of farm land, days after the Arjun Munda government set up a high-level committee to discuss the dispute over land acquisition at Nagri on the outskirts of Ranchi.
"Agriculture land will not be allowed to be acquired by the government because it is in the interest of the people," Soren, the Chairman of the ruling coalition’s coordination committee said while addressing a gathering at Nagri, about 20 km from here.
Chief Minister Arjun Munda had on July 11 constituted a committee headed by state Land and Revenue Minister Mathura Mahato to begin a dialogue process with villagers protesting against the acquisition of land in 1956/57 to set up IIT, IIM and Law University.
The representatives of the villagers refused to turn up for the meeting with the minister-led committee in Ranchi yesterday.
On July 4, the boundary wall was pulled down allegedly by a group of villagers that had triggered a clash between the police and the villagers causing injury to several people, including the Superintendent of Police (Ranchi Rural) A V Minz.
The chief Convenor of Adivasi Moolwasi Ashthiva Raksha
Manch, Dayamani Barla, termed Soren?s statement as positive and expressed hope that the Munda government would listen to him.
"It’s a positive statement from the Chairman of the ruling coalition’s Coordination Committee (Soren). Now the government should give back the acquired land to the villagers," Barla told reporters.
She warned that agitation would be intensified if the government failed to fulfill their charter of demands that included withdrawal of cases lodged against the villagers during the July 4 protest, release of four arrested persons, removal of police posse and giving back the acquired land to the villagers.
According to official sources, the land was acquired in 1956/57 by the erstwhile Bihar government.
Recently the Jharkhand government has proposed to set up IIM reportedly spread across 76.74 acre, IIT in an area of 73.79 acre and a Law University in 63.76 acre.
PTI