Hundreds of peasants from Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu and
Karnataka held a March and a massive Dharna at Jantar Mantar against the
implementation of the Kasturirangan Committee Recommendations on
Western Ghats. The Dharna was inaugurated by Hannan Mollah, General
Secretary of All India Kisan Sabha. Amra Ram, President, AIKS presided
over the meeting.
A Memorandum demanding that the implementation of the High Level Working
Group recommendations be stopped and an Expert panel be formed
including people’s representatives to come up with a Comprehensive Plan
for Protection of Fragile Ecosystems and Livelihoods in Western Ghats
was submitted to the Environment Ministry. Over 2.5 lakh signatures were
collected from Kerala against the HLWG Recommendations which was also
handed over to the Ministry. Delegates from Tamilnadu also came with
resolutions against the recommendations passed by Gram Sabhas which will
be handed over to the Government. This was a unique feature of the
Protest which was a reflection of the mass resentment against the
Government move to impose anti-peasant recommendations of the HLWG.
The Meeting was addressed by S.Ramachandran Pillai, Ex-President, AIKS,
K.Varadha Rajan, Ex-General Secretary, AIKS, N.K.Shukla, Joint
Secretary, AIKS, E.P.Jayarajan President, Kerala Karshaka Sangham,
P.Shanmugham, General Secretary, Tamilnadu, Vivasayigal Sangham, Kishan
Gujjar, General Secretary, Maharshtra Kisan Sabha, Yamuna Gaonkar, CITU
Karnataka, Suneet Chopra, Joint Secretary, All India Agricultural
Workers’ Union, Sivadasan, President, Students’ Federation of India
among others. K.N.Balagopal, M.P, Rajya Sabha and P.K.Biju, M.P, Lok
Sabha addressed the gathering and assured that they will take up the
matter of HLWG Recommendations as well as the problems of the rubber
farmers in the Parliament. P.Krishnaprasad, Finance Secretary, AIKS
welcomed the gathering and Vijoo Krishnan, Joint Secretary; AIKS
delivered the Vote of Thanks.
The Meeting resolved to take forward the fight with greater intensity until the demands are met.
No comments:
Post a Comment