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Please find below statement from Janpaksh (People�s Side) on the recent armed action against the inhabitants of Kalingnagar in Orrisa (India).
On April 1st at Jantar Mantar a protest rally is being organised at 11 AM to protest against this action.
Fraternally,
Damodar
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Statement of Protest by Janpaksh
Stop the Corporate Terror Against the Adivasis of Kalingnagar
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The adivasi villages have been razed and houses demolished. In Balligotha village firing on adivasis took place injuring about 15 persons. One of them who is seriously injured has been whisked away by the police. This brutal attack is organized after days of preparation in order to put down the resistance of adivasis against Tata�s project which will displace thousands of families. About 25 platoons of police and paramilitary forces have been deployed and the district administration has started construction in Kalinga Nagar industrial area of Common Corridor Road (CCR).
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The state government has been falsely claiming that the land it wants to acquire is wasteland, while the reality is something diametrically different. This area that has been called as the core zone consists of green hills with rich forests, tribal settlements of more than ten thousand people spread over two gram panchayats, agricultural lands, ancient tanks, grazing fields, village common lands and roads. Twenty per cent of the Project area has quality forest where timber species like Sal, Kuruma, Vandan, Ashan and Piasal, besides Mahula, Kendu are plentily available. The total area of waste land is less than 5 acres on the Northern side.
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The Orissa government till date has signed nearly 40 MoUs with various industrial houses and groups to set up their plants in Orissa out of which 13 plants are planned in Kalinga Nagar of Jajpur district The government has been equally brutal against the tribal communities gathered at Maikanch and Kashipur in protest against Utkal Alumina Project, whereby three tribals were killed in Maikanch in the recent past.�The government has come out openly as the hireling of the exploitative capitalists, at the expense of the poor and the voiceless. It has been brazenly trampling upon the basic right of livelihood of the local population with impunity
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This is not the first time in Kaling Nagar that the state and its armed forces have proved to be so brazenly vindictive, aligning with the industrialists at the cost of local communities. �In the past also it has used its force to silence the resistance of the poor. Four years ago �in police firing 14 tribals, including three women, were murdered, on January 2, 2006 while opposing forcible land acquisition by the Tata Steel for its proposed steel project in the area. The same saga is being repeated today.
We severely condemn this barbarous attack on adivasis by the police and para-military forces who are acting as a hired mercenary of Tata Steel company and demand that it should immediately stop the construction work of the Common Corridor Road project as it will be built on fertile farm land and the community land of the tribals who are the real owner of this land.
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We appeal to all the organizations and concerned citizens to raise their voice against the Fascist predatory tendencies of the Govt and express solidarity with the belligerent tribals of Kalinga Nagar.
Sd/
Convenor
Janpaksh