CMAS factions at 'daggers drawn' ;Statesman News Service
BHUBANESWAR, 18 SEPT: Bitter factionalism in the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) which has been running riot in Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon blocks of Koraput district, has come to the fore with the Badhugaon CMAS faction alleging here today that its Narayanpatna counterpart was playing into the hands of vested interests who want to sabotage the land and forest rights struggle.
Addressing a Press conference here, leaders of the All India Khet Majdoor Kisan Sabha (AI KMKS) including its convenor, Mr Subodh Mitra, co-convenor Ms S Jhansi and the CMAS leader of Bandhugaon Ms K Paidamma alleged that the state government is creating fissures in the peoples movement and admiring the violent clash between factions of the CMAS.
A peace committee has been created to voice demand for ban of the CMAS which is completely unacceptable, they charged.
The CMAS Narayanpatna faction led by Mr Nachika Linga and directed by Mr Gananath Patra is behind the violence, they alleged, citing instances of gangrape, abduction and arson that was committed two weeks back.
"It is shocking that the entire administration is not taking any action after such heinous crimes committed at regular intervals," said Mr Mitra.
The CMAS has organised the downtrodden in these remote villages to fight for land and forest rights and to launch a movement against liquor trade, he explained. It was formed in 1998 as an extension of the work of Rythu-Cooli Sangham of Andhra Pradesh. The district administration is not only defunct but is also hobnobbing with Linga-group alleged Ms Padiamma, president of CMAS, Bandhugaon. Recently, the Linga group kidnapped 11 of our people including girls and held them as hostages for almost 12 days. They have released only seven till date, she decried.
She alleged that the government convened meetings and promised land settlement, forest rights, homestead plots etc to the tribal and the poor. But it has not fulfilled the promise, instead local officers tell us that Mr Linga has to come on board for acceptance or implementation of any thing. "The Naryanpatna faction is turning the movement into a violent one and is targeting non-tribals including the poor and we protest this," said Ms Jhansi. A fact finding team of the AIKMKS alleged that a girl of Jadaba village in Bandhugaon block was gangraped and tortured.
The police and district administration is taking the plea of Maoists every time such incidents take place and their inaction is exposed, charged the AIKMKS leaders. They demanded immediate implementation of forest and land rights in the area, resettlement of land to landless people, fully equipped health care centers in each panchayat, schools, safe drinking water and purchase centers for forest produce collected by tribals. |
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