Ashish Tripathi, TNN | Jun 12, 2015 | http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tribal-forest-workers-protest-against-land-acquisition-ordinance-demand-stay-on-Kanhar-dam-project/articleshow/47648495.cms
LUCKNOW: Tribal and left groups from across the state took part in a demonstration organized by the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP) at Laxman Mela ground in the state capital on Friday against the land acquisition amendment ordinance of the Modi sarkar.
Organized as a part of AIUFWP's land rights movement, the protest saw tribal pledging to fight against the pro-corporate land acquisition amendment till their last breath. Apart from scraping the land amendment ordinance issued by the third time by NDA government after failing to get it pass through Rajya Sabha, the protesters demanded implementation of the Forest Rights Act and land rights for landless peasants and agricultural workers.
The leaders said that the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the land ordinance should reach out to the farmers, tribal and workers of this country and hold wider consultations, public meetings and public hearings on the Bill, especially where local communities have been affected by past or present experiences of land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement like in Kalinga Nagar and Dhinkia to Narmada, Sompetta, Raigarh, Madurai, Mundra, Kanhar, Bhatta Parsaul, Jashpur and Dholera among others in different parts of the country.
The tribal also demanded end to state repression in Kanhar valley and action against those responsible for the police firing on villagers protesting peacefully in Sonbadhra on April 14 and 18, 2015, against illegal land acquisition in the Kanhar valley for construction of a dam. They said that the National Green Tribunal stay order on Kanhar Dam should be implemented and all leaders arrested for participating in protest must be released.
