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Welcome to India, where people
have thrown out the govt
Priyaleen K
Renuka
 Kolkata: Good
things are happening because people have thrown the government out
of their lives. Welcome to Lalgarh, now administered by the People’s
Committee against the Police Atrocity (PCPA). It has taken over
several developmental projects worth Rs 40 lakh in the the villages,
has shooed away the administration and said get out to all security
forces.
These projects,
running in to lakhs of rupees, may appear smaller than those state
government’s projects worth crores but they are being implemented in
villages like Katapahari, Baro Pelia, Choto Pelia and Sizua where
tribals live a hand-to-mouth existence.
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Almost every household have been stocking arms such as bows,
arrows, spears, daggers and indigenous knives. Locals say they
plan to resist till the last. So far, they seem to be
succeeding. |
It seems that by
taking up the development projects the tribals have barred all kinds
of government intervention in the area.
The PCPA, at
present, is constructing roads in three areas. A 4.5 km stretch is
being constructed in Sizua in Lalgarh Block, another 8-km road from
Birkar to Patisol and a 1.5-km stretch from Dharampur to Sargapara.
Moreover, they
have started boring tube wells in several villages of Lalgarh and
Katapahari, a Maoist dominated area. In Baropelia, where several
villagers were allegedly assaulted in the police crackdown, the PCPA
has dug a large pond for the villagers from where water can be used
for irrigation purposes.
“We have taken
control of these villages. We will develop the areas on our own
since we have lost all faiths in the administration. We have
gathered money by collecting donation. Our budget is Rs 40 lakhs. We
will do everything possible for the development of the villages.
Moreover, the villagers are working voluntarily for the projects. So
we are just bearing the material cost from our funds,” said
Chatradhar Mahato of the PCPA.
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* Lalgarh,
spread over 300 sq. km under the Jhargram sub-division of
West
Midnapore
district, has been out of bounds for the administration and the
police for the past four months.
* In early December, tribals who got together under the banner
of the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities, or PCPA,
drove the law-keepers out, alleging state repression.
* Police says Maoists have spread their wings in Lalgarh and
adjoining areas because of lack of economic development
* The best part of Lalgarh is covered by forest. Road
connectivity is poor, and the terrain largely unknown to the
outside world. PCPA activists have piled up logs and boulders
along roads |
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The district
administration, however, says that they have no clue about the
source of PCPA’s funds.
“The PCPA is
working on the projects which were stopped during their resistance.
We do not have any idea from where they have gathered the huge
funds. But we have reports that they have gathered funds by
threatening people from every strata of the society,” said Sourav
Barik, Block Development Officer, Lalgarh.
In Ramgrah, the
PCPA had built a health centre called Janasadharaner Sasthya Udyog,
a few months ago. At Girulia village in Salboni, around 100 women
are involved in construction of an embankment for storing water for
irrigation in the area.
“We have a
similar plan for Lalgarh too. We have arranged for everything. Work
for an embankment for storing water from the Kansabati river will
start in four to five days,” said Mahato.
When asked
whether PCPA is getting any help from the Maoists in these works,
Mahato said, “As of now, we have done everything on our own. But if
they want to help us in these works for villagers, we do not have
any problem to accept that.”
On the other
hand, Pulin Behari Baskey, MP from Jhargram, said these kinds of
development projects will not sustain for long. The villages do not
have any security. We will discuss the issue in the coming session
of Parliament.”
3
June 2009
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