Kerala

Chengara: charter of demands submitted

PATHANAMTHITTA: The Sadhu Jana Vimochana Samyukta Vedi (SJVSV) on Tuesday formally placed a five-point charter of demands to be met for withdrawing its 10-month-old agitation at Chengara, near Konni, before the government, through Pathanamthitta District Collector Raju Narayanaswamy.

The Collector forwarded the charter of demands submitted by vedi president Laha Gopalan on Tuesday afternoon.

The SJVSV activists encroached upon a private plantation on August 5, 2007, demanding five acres of land suitable for agriculture and Rs.50,000 in cash for each landless family among them. Vedi leaders claim that 20,000 encroachers have pitched tents at the Kumbazha estate of Harrisons Malayalam Limited.

The five demands put forward by the organisation to bring an end to the encroachment of the Kumbazha estate are: allot one acre of land each to all eligible encroachers belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as well as Dalit Christians; provide financial assistance to meet farming and food expenses for one year; five acres of land should be allotted for a place of worship at Kallely-Appoopankavu, near Konni; due consideration must be given to families belonging to Forward Communities among the encroachers; withdraw cases against all vedi workers filed right from the beginning of the agitation at Kodumon Plantation in 2006.

The vedi leaders warned that the agitation would be intensified if the government failed to accept the demands.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Gopalan said the encroachers hailed from families having houses on the three cents of land at various lakshamveedu colonies, and on Revenue, rock and canal poromboke lands. The vedi had been demanding allotment of land suitable for farming to each encroacher family. He said there should be a special package for land allotment to SC/ST families, lest it was grabbed by capitalist forces.

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