Provide land to landless farmers, not to Ramdev, demands KMA

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, May 10: Members of the Krishak Mahaxabha, Axom (KMA) today demonstrated at Dighalipukhuripar in Guwahati demanding of Dispur to provide lands to the poor farmers of the State, not to people like Swami Ramdev.

State CPI(ML) secretary Rubul Sarma, Axom Sangram Chah Shramik Sangha’s president Vivek Das and leaders of Arohan Adhyayan Chakra and others took part in the demonstration. They said Assam land along its Aruchal Pradesh border should be given to poor farmers of the State. “The State Government should provide lands to landless farmers, not to Ramdev. People who have been residing in tea estates should be given land pattas. Since Assam is an agrarian State, loans of farmers in the State should be waived as is the case with the farmers of Uttar Pradesh, besides checking tax hike,” they said, and added: “The party that came to power in the State with the slogan of Jaati, Maati and Bheti started an eviction drive in the State soon after taking charge. Around 57 per cent of people in Assam are landless. Instead of evicting them, the indigenous people of the State should be given land pattas.”

They further said: “While taking oath Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal made mention of making Assam free from corruption and pollution. However, in the me of constructing the four-lane highways in the State his government resorted to acquire vast areas of arable land, besides felling trees and earth-filling from hills without any environment clearance. The decision to construct an express highway on either bank of the Brahmaputra is going to impact the environment badly. The project should be abandoned.”

They also said that the anti-people policies of the State Government have been greeted with boos and hisses by the people of the State. “However, instead of respecting the criticism of the people, the government is going for baton charge on them,” they said, and added: “The government is putting people behind bars for making comments against the government in social media. This is interference into the democratic rights of the people of the State.”