An AIARLA delegation met the Bihar Revenue and Land Reform Minister Anil Kumar Mehta and Rural Development Minister Shravan Kumar on 30 August 2022. The delegation comprised AIARLA General Secretary Dhirendra Jha, CPIML MLAs Satyadev Ram, Virendra Prasad Gupta and Gopal Ravidas, AIARLA Executive Secretary Shatrughan Sahni and CPIML media in-charge Kumar Parvez.
The delegation submitted memorandums to both the Ministers. Dhirendra Jha said that there is large scale landlessness in Bihar. A large population is suffering from the issue of homelessness. Under the previous government even those who had homestead parchas were evicted. This kind of eviction should now be stopped.
The delegation told the Land Reforms Minister that a proper survey should be conducted of all the poor settled on government land and the government should prepare a new manual for this. A survey should be conducted with the participation of civil society, dalits-poor, organizations working with workers and researchers. AIARLA will be fully committed to this ground survey. The government must guarantee that parcha holders will not be evicted and conspiracies to cancel their parchas are ended. There should also be an end to eviction of slums settled on private lands. Many Gram Panchayats have been made part of urban corporations and small chatti-bazaars have been given municipal status. Therefore it is necessary to make provision for allottment of homestead lands in urban areas also. Legal provision should be made for parcha-holders to be parties in encroachment cases to curb unilateral court verdicts.
The demands put by AIARLA leaders to the Rural Development Minister include: start MNREGA work from 15 September in view of the drought; full 100 days of work in MNREGA this year; put pressure on the Central government for increase in minimum wages in MNREGA; collect unemployment allowance from the salary of officials who do not provide MNREGA work; implement the MNREGA council structure; guarantee work according to need and weekly payment; an additional payment of Rs 25 to be added to MNREGA wages by the Bihar government; connect cleaning and renovation of canals, rivers, ponds and gardens to MNREGA work; guarantee Rs 30000 pension to MNREGA workers above the age of 60 years.
The AIARLA will organize a 'Rehabilitate the Poor' campaign across Bihar in the coming days.
