Around 5000 tribals representing vast tribal communities of Sundargarh had to press collective clutch on the district collectorate on October 21 as the imprudent Collector had pooh-poohed their request to receive a memorandum they had addressed to the President of India against illegal allocation of their land to Dalmia group for stone mining.
The cement company wants more than 2000 acres of land for stone mining and the administration has allegedly helped the company grab 750 of land that belong to the Tribals. Naturally, therefore, as people of the locality fear, the Collector didnot heed to their request to receive and forward the grievance-Memo to the President of India. He did not even depute any officer to recieve the Memo.
President of Lokashakti Abhijan, Prafulla Samantara, in protest against the Collector’s brash manners prfered a persoinal Satyagrah with a faxed message to the Chief Minister and the Governor. This brought the district’s top bureaucrat to size. The Memo was received and the issue was discussed with a team of the demonstrators’ representatives. Samantara, in view of this, called off his Satyagrah.
We feel, there should be an enquiry into the anti-people aptitude of the Collector and to find out whether or not the district administration has danced to the tune of the Dalmia group in the instant case.