— Photo: R. V. Moorthy

ANOTHER PROTEST: NBA activist Medha Patkar forming a human chain against police action on Sangarsh 2007 activists, at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: People's organisations will intensify their struggle demanding the scrapping of the Special Economic Zones Act 2005.

To continue struggle

At a press conference here on Tuesday, social activist Medha Patkar and representatives of NGOs from many States, including West Bengal, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, raised issues on SEZs and land acquisition. They said they would continue their "Sangharsh 2007" until the United Progressive Alliance Government addressed the concerns of the majority of the population.

They assailed the "government's role in suppressing their movement with brute force and violence."

Forcible acquisition

The activists said they were against large-scale, forcible acquisition of land; loss of agricultural land for real estate speculation, unprecedented environmental destruction, usurpation of natural resources by SEZ projects, scarcity of water and power, labour exploitation, destruction of the coastline by SEZ projects and rendering thousands of acres of land "foreign country," thus compromising on the nation's sovereignty.

On the Nandigram episode, in which 14 farmers were killed in police firing, the activists said the state machinery violently suppressed people's protests instead of having a dialogue with them. "This will remain a shameful scar imprinted on the memory of the public." As part of their efforts to hold the state accountable for its policies and to usher in transparency in governance, delegations represented in "Sangharsh 2007" would meet different Ministers, concerned citizens and political parties.

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