Annoyed with the injustice meted out to them by the State Government, the forest dwellers staged protest in front of the collector’s office in Panna on Wednesday.
Thousands of forest dwellers deprived of patta under the Forest Rights Act in Panna district hold demonstration seeking justice from the State Government. Thousands of labourers, landless and poor participated in the demonstration held under the aegis of Panna unit of the ‘Adivasi – Vanvasi Dalit Mahasangh.’ The collectorate square witnessed traffic jam for over two hours due to the large number of demonstrators and the area was converted into police camp.
State Congress vice president and former minister of the state Raja Pateria while addressing the gathering on the occasion alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of the state is anti poor. “The district administration is doing injustice with thousands of deserving Tribals and other traditional forest dwellers by not allotting them land under the forest right act passed by the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of the centre,” the former minister added.
Former parliamentarian and socialist ideologue Raghu Thakur condemned the action of the district administration to suppress the people’s agitation of the Adivasi – Vanvasi Dalit Mahasangh. “The administration is acting on the directives of the ministers of the BJP government of the state and BJP leaders and is suppressing the voice of downtrodden in order to deprive them of their rights,” Thakur said. He called on the demonstrators to remain united and give befitting reply to the suppressive action of the district administration.