Kisan Mahapanchayat in Lalkuan
ON 26 December, a Mahapanchayat was organized at the Shaheed Samarak in Lalkuan on the demands of granting Bindukhatta the status of revenue village and dismissing the proposal of elephant corridor. Along with holding the Mahapanchayat, a rally was also taken out from Shaheed Samarak to the Lalkuan Tehsil. A memorandum with eleven thousand signatures demanding dismissal of elephant corridor and passing through state assembly, the status of revenue village for Bindukhatta, was submitted to the Uttarakhand CM and Country’s PM through the tehsildar.
Addressing the Mahapanchayat at the Shaheed Samarak, CPI (ML) Uttarakhand state secretary Com. Raja Bahuguna warned the BJP governments at the centre and the state against their continued betrayal of the promise of granting Bindukhatta revenue village status. He said that the state government instead of granting the ownership of Bindukhatta’s land to the people of Bindukhatta, was trying to convert it to a forest land through elephant corridor proposal. This was a ploy to use environmental concern as a tool to displace people. The National Secretary of Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Mahasabha, Com. Purshottam Sharma said that the question of granting revenue village status to Bindukhatta was only a vote bank issue for the Congress and the BJP. The Modi-Trivendra double-engine of the BJP government has exposed its anti-people agenda through its ploy to convert Bindukhatta’s people’s land into forest. CPI (ML) Garhwal Mandal secretary Com. Indresh Maikhuri said that the BJP government is displacing adivasis, tribals, and farmers from forests across the country to hand over the forest resources to the corporate. There is a need to intensify the struggle against this. Com. Kailash Pandey said that the BJP government had stabbed the people of Bindukhatta in the back who are already suffering from several illnesses due to the water and air pollution caused by Sanctuary Pulp and Paper Mill. He also said that the united struggle of the people will not let the ploy of the government win.
A unanimous resolution was passed at the Mahapanchayat that the government deforest the land of the Bindukhatta and grant it revenue village status. They also issued an ultimatum that if the work towards elephant corridor is started, KIsan Mahasabha will join the people to wage a decisive battle. Resolutions were also passed demanding- (i) a stop to the pollution being caused by Sanctuary paper mill; (ii) a permanent embankment on the Gaula river, (iii) construction of a bypass road. The mahapanchayat was conducted by Kisan Mahasabha district secretary Com. Bahadur Singh Jangi.
