People up in arms to repel any fresh bid; Arjun Munda blames admin, demands action
One incident has changed everything in Shilagain village under Chanho police station under Ranchi district. Even after 24 hours of the riot that shook the innocent villagers, the fear of another attack was visible on the faces of kith and kin of those who sustained injuries in one of the most well planned clash to have occurred in recent times in Jharkhand.
As many as 35 people of all ages were admitted in Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) after the riot engulfed the village which is about 45km away from the State Capital. One person died in the ghastly incident while another is still in a critical condition.
The land of Veer Budhu Bhagat, who fought British rulers to liberate the place from the clutches of foreign invaders, now stands witness to a clash that involved people of the land of great son of the soil. The martyr's mausoleum built right at the entry point of the village tells his helplessness to solve the dispute over a piece of land which is claimed to be the actual reason for conflict between the people of two faiths.
"They were given a rayati land for running madarsa but they slowly started grabbing adjacent land to which we have been objecting from a very long time. But yesterday they used the occasion to assemble people from nearby villages and attacked everyone, including policemen. This was a preplanned attack," said a villager, Vikas Gupta.
According to villagers, the Block Development Officer of Chanho allowed the situation to reach the point of clash by not addressing the land dispute on time. The dispute is about a piece of GM land abutting a raiyat land belonging to a tribal which the villagers alleged is being slowly encroached upon by people of the other community. Agitated residents of Shilagain handed over a 12-point demand note to the district administration which included immediate action against the BDO and assistance to the dependents of Dasrath Oraon who sustained fatal injuries in the violent clash.
"BDO Chanho is also responsible for what happened yesterday. She turned a blind eye to our objection over the transfer of GM land. People of other community have made false papers to claim the GM land," complained an angry villager.
Senior officials of district administration and police were present in the area to keep the situation under control but they had nothing to suppress rumours of another riot which kept pouring in from different people assembled near the mausoleum to express their plight and helplessness against a well coordinated attack of July 29.
Police, jawans of RAP and RAF were deployed at every nook and corner of the village however they could not prevent people taking arms as soon as the news of clashes in neighbouring village of Hurhuri poured in.
