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After Lalgarh, Red flag up in
Koraput
Backed by
Maoists, tribals in Orissa district forcibly take back land they
were cheated of years ago
WSN Network
Bhubaneswar: Orissa
has just got its own Lalgarh. Naxal-backed tribals in Orissa’s
Koraput district on Tuesday forcibly reoccupied lands that
non-tribals, local businessmen and other outsiders had cheated them
of many years ago.
About 200 tribals,
with red bandana-like pieces of cloth on their heads and wrists,
marched into the rain-soaked agricultural fields in Koraput’s
Narayanpatna block, 560 km southwest of Bhubaneswar, and started
tilling them.
Another group of
150 tribals, armed with swords,spears and other sharp-edged weapons
stood guard. The area of land occupied by the tribals could not be
ascertained.
Koraput is the
heart of Naxal territory in Orissa. The district administration is
practically non-existent in some parts of this remote district and
how local villagers now take their complaints and grievances to the
Maoists. People people feel that when the police cannot defend
themselves, how can they protect them.
On June 18, the
Maoists had completely cut off Narayanpatna block from the rest of
the state by felling trees on the highways leading into it. They
then killed nine personnel of the Orissa Special Strike Force, the
elite anti-Naxal commando force,by triggering a powerful landmine
when they approached the area to remove these felled trees.
8
July 2009
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