A 170 km foot march was undertaken by volunteers of the Bharatiya Suraaj Dal and its affiliate Kisan Majdoor Vikas Manch from Daltonganj to Ranchi from 7th Oct to 13th Oct. The march was organiased to highlight the plight of farmers and labourers facing drought-like situation in some areas of Jharkhand like Palamu and Garhwa.
On the concluding day of the march a five point charter of demands was submitted to the office of Governor Syed Ahmed. The foot-march was supervised by president of BSD, PK Siddharth. Interestingly, the state government sent a recommendation to the central government to declare Palamu Garhwa as drought affected areas.
However the party termed the development an eye wash and questioned the intentions of the state government and claimed that “by putting the ball in the court of the Central government, the state government has played a political game which will bring no relief to the farmers”.
In a press communiqué the party said there is a need to immediately grant some relief to the farmers of these districts, where drought-like situation prevails, even if technically there is no drought according to existing norms.