Shimla, March 20:
Thousands of farmers and apple growers from across Himachal Pradesh stormed Shimla today, marching towards the Vidhan Sabha under the banners of Himachal Kisan Sabha and Himachal Seb Utpadak Sangh.
Slogans against the state government’s apathy towards the landless echoed in the air as farmers demanded their long-pending rights over land categorized as Shamlat, Khudra-o-Darakhtan, Malik Sarkar, Chakotedar, and Nautor.
The old farmers even of of 82, women, farmers fromm tribal areas apple belt of Shimla Kullu Mandi Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti, Chamba, kangra Hamirpur participated in the rally and gave ultimatum to the government. The stir will continue and followed by another rally in April, said the farmers.
Leading the charge, Rakesh Singha, CPM leader and ex Theog MLA and Dr. Kuldeep Singh Tanwar, president of the Kisan Sabha, Sanjay Chauhan minced no words in slamming the government’s double standards. “On one side, the government is gifting thousands of bighas to industrialists and corporates. On the other, poor farmers who have tilled these lands for generations are being hounded like criminals. This is sheer injustice,” they thundered.
The protest, which saw participation from tribal communities like Gaddis and Gujjars, highlighted the failure of the government to implement the Forest Rights Act. “We’ve been living on these lands for decades, raising our cattle and farming. Now, bulldozers come knocking, throwing us out without notice. Where do we go?” questioned Nathu Ram, a tribal leader from Chamba.
Farmers blamed the 1952 land notification, the 1980 Forest Conservation Act, the 1988 National Forest Policy, and Supreme Court orders in the T N Godavarman case for their woes. They claimed these have made them strangers in their own land.
“Apple growers too are facing the heat. Instead of supporting the backbone of the state’s economy, the government is hell-bent on snatching even the little land we own. We will not back down till we get justice,” said Ramesh Chauhan, president of the Seb Utpadak Sangh.
Considering the gravity of massive response to the call, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu accompanied by ministers Rohit Thakur, Jagat Singh Negi came out from Vidhan sabha assuring that farmers that the government would sympathetically consider their demands and would represent the case with the Supreme Court seeking remedy for the farmers.
Meanwhille protesters submitted a memorandum demanding a resolution in the assembly to regularize these lands, urging the state to take up the matter with the Centre and the Supreme Court.
Warning the government of an intensified stir, the Kisan Sabha leadership said, “If our demands are ignored, this is just the trailer. We will launch a statewide agitation and turn this into a farmers’ movement the government won’t forget.”
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