The CPI(M) has reiterated its demand for a time-bound judicial enquiry into the unprovoked police firing on peaceful protesters at Keredari in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand on July 23, which led to the death of a peasant and injuries to five others.
This was one of the six issues that a CPI(M) delegation raised before the Jharkhand Chief Minister Shri Hemant Soren when it met him on August 4. Among the others in the delegation led by CPI(M) leader in the Lok Sabha, Basudev Acharia were State Secretary Gopi Kant Baksi and Secretariat Members Ramachandra Thakur and Sudhir Das.
The delegation demanded adequate compensation for the peasant killed in the police firing on farmers who were protesting against the forcible construction of a shed on their land without their consent. The land in question had yet not been acquired due to the refusal of the NTPC management to provide adequate compensation for the multi-crop land and the guarantee of rehabilitation and resettlement including employment.
The delegation demanded that those responsible for the firing should be punished besides compensation be paid to the bereaved family, employment for at least one member from the family, framing of a proper rehabilitation, resettlement and compensation policy for loss of land, no acquisition of multi-crop land, provision of 35 kgs of foodgrains at Rs. 1 per kg to each poor family (a commitment made by the erstwhile Shibu Soren Government), concrete and urgent steps to check the deteriorating law and order situation.
The delegation also demanded an CBI enquiry into the gang rape and murder of two teenaged school going girls in the police lines of Deoghar. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat had met the district administration of Deoghar as well as the members of the victims’ families earlier.
The Chief Minister agreed to the proposal of the delegation to convene a meeting of all political parties to discuss issues related to land and other important issues.
Ranchi, August 4, 2013