As many as three Dalit families of Nuapada village under Patkura police limits on Friday staged a demonstration in front of the district collectorate protesting forcible eviction from their lands, where they have been residing for last four decades.
According to an agitator Chandramani Das, the fellow villagers allegedly in connivance with the district administration, has been planning to evict them from the Government land.
“While the State Government has been providing land to the landless people by providing record of rights to settle them, here the Dalits are being forced to quit their ancestral land,” lamented a few protestors, adding, “We are not going to leave the place whatever be the consequences.” They also threatened to immolate themselves if the district administration does not refrain from the eviction move.
Official sources informed that in a writ petition earlier filed by the fellow villagers against the Dalit families, they brought the matter before the State High Court that the Dalit families by farming pig allegedly were destroying standing crops. They also complained to be affected by possible swine flu virus due to the pig farming. The court adjudging the case had directed the District Collector to take steps for evicting the Dalits from the land.
A month back, the Gardapur tehsildar had issued notice to the three Dalit families to leave the place else the district administration would forcibly evict them from the land.