Communist Party of India (Marxist) activists organised protests outside taluk offices in Gulbarga District seeking fulfilment of various demands. Protesters gathered outside the taluk office here and raised slogans against the Government for neglecting the poor and the marginalised.
CPI(M) leader Nityananda Swamy said that corruption in government offices had reached a peak. . However, the Government had failed to act against corrupt officials, he said. The CPI(M)'s city unit secretary Gangamma Biradar said that the public distribution system in the State was flawed. “The Government has delayed issuing below the poverty line cards to the poor for more than a decade. The unit system of 4 kg of foodgrains per person needs to be scrapped. The price of foodgrains such as jowar has reached unprecedented levels, but the Government is indifferent to it. All these need to be addressed,” she said.
The police arrested protesters who tried to storm into the taluk office. Around 30 protesters, half of them women, were arrested and released later. Their other demands included curbing inflation, issuing of ration cards to all families, providing rice at Rs. 2 a kg and jowar at subsidised rates, and supply of pure drinking water to Gulbarga city.
Raichur
Members of the Raichur district unit of the CPI(M) took out a procession and staged a dharna urging the Government to provide houses and land for cultivation to the homeless and landless in the district.
The activists went in a procession from Station Road and reached the taluk office here on Tuesday. They staged a dharna on the office premises and accused officials of indulging in irregularities while implementing the Land Reforms Act. In a memorandum submitted to the tahsildar, they said farmers in several villages such as Undraldoddi, Ijapur, Bapur, Baidoddi, Singanodi and Krubaradoddi in Raichur taluk had been cultivating ‘gairana' (notified revenue land) land for more than 75 years. Most of this land had been developed into agricultural fields where several borewells had also been sunk by taking loans.
On several occasions, the farmers had submitted applications to the department seeking transfer of land as per the Land Reforms Act. But the officials at the taluk office did not help the beneficiaries. On the contrary, Forest Department officials here were harassing farmers claiming the land that the farmers were cultivating was reserve forest land. Demanding that the Government allot houses to the poor in urban and rural areas, they said many agricultural labourers and poor people were living in huts even though the Government was implementing several housing schemes.
Udupi
Activists of the Udupi district unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) laid siege to the taluk office here on Tuesday against the “anti-people” policies of the Union and State governments.
Party leader P. Vishwanath Rai said the common man was suffering owing to poor administration and corruption. Inflation, substandard items given under the public distribution system, and unemployment had hit poor people hard. Farmers were not getting good prices for their produce such as rice, arecanut, and sugarcane.
Listing the demands of the CPI (M), Mr. Rai said that forcible acquisition of fertile agricultural land should be stopped. The government should provide a minimum wage of Rs. 6,000 a month for industrial workers. Ration cards should be provided to all. Each family should be given 35 kg of cereals. Rice should be distributed at Rs. 2 a kg under the public distribution system.
Labour laws should be strictly enforced and violators should be punished. A fund should be established to provide social security to temporary and contract workers. Beedi workers should be given a minimum wage of Rs. 125 for rolling 1,000 beedis. Futures trading in foodgrains should be banned to control prices. Black marketers should be punished.
Mangalore
CPI (M) activists held dharna in front of DC office in Mangalore to protest against the failure of the State and Central government.
Addressing the media DKDC Secretary CPI (M) B Madhava said that UPA government as well as BJP government has failed to solve the problems of the citizen. The Central government is involved in 2G spectrum, Common Wealth Games Scam, Adarsh scam and also bribing for votes whereas the state government is involved in corruption, land scam and illegal mining. This has created ups and downs in ruling the country so the common people have been affected and there is no one to listen to their plea, he said.
Among these it is the poor people who have been suffering from unavailability of the ration system. In the Central Government Budget the ration system will be cancelled he said. For the past three years State labourers union has been fighting to fix the minimum salary for the unskilled labourers but the state government has never bothered to implement it. Instead they try to break the strength of the Labourers Union. To make matters worse, he said the government has implemented a defective pension scheme for Anganvadi workers.
The state is witnessing thousands of homeless people who everyday are running behind the officers to get a land with proper documents but their cry has never reached the State government as well as Central government. Instead the government is denotifying the land and busy distributing to the capitalists, he charged.
Further he said that the BJP government had promised to give rice for Rs.2 per kg and had also promised to provide jobs to all unemployed but the said government has failed to keep its promises.
Sunil Kumar Bajal, Krishnappa Salian, K R Shreyan and Munir Katipalla were also present at the protest. Pandeshwar Police arrested and took into custody more than 400 protestors but they were released later.
Bangalore
In Bangalore, a large number of people staged a protest outside the tahsildar's office. The protest was jointly organised by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), and the Autorickshaw Drivers' Union (ARDU). “The consistent rise in prices of essential commodities has been neglected by the Government. It is high time that it is reined in,” CPI(M) district secretary Prakash K. said. The protesters distributed copies of a memorandum to be submitted to the Chief Minister. They were briefly detained by the police.
Kolar
The police detained CPI(M) workers in Bangarpet as they were preparing to gherao the taluk office.Activists of the CPI(M) and its frontal organisations such as the KPRS, SFI, DYFI and JMS gathered outside the taluk offices at Kolar, Srinivaspur, Malur and Mulbagal to protest against the rampant corruption in the State and the Centre. They also condemned the rise in prices of essential commodities.
Tension prevailed at the tahsildar's office in Kolar when the police stopped the activists from entering the office. The police did not allow them to protest near the taluk office because the model code of conduct is in force for the recently held bypolls.
When the workers, led by CPI(M) district unit secretary G. Arjunan, insisted on staging the protest, the police arrested them. They were released later.
Hassan
Workers belonging to the CPI(M) staged a protest against illegal mining in the State, outside the taluk office in Hassan. The protesters carried posters criticising the BJP, corrupt practices allegedly by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and rise in prices of essential commodities. The protesters submitted a memorandum addressed to the Governor to the tahsildar.
Bijapur
Members of the district unit of the CPI(M) staged a dharna outside the Deputy Commissioner's office in protest against the increase in prices of essential commodities.
The protesters gathered outside the Sri Siddeshwar temple and took out a procession through the main streets of the city. They raised slogans against the State and Union governments for their failure to address the “problems of the common man”.They submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner S.S. Pattanshetty.
(Source : The Hindu, Mangalorean.com)
