[Reader-list] WB: Struggle against eviction of ~ 30000 villagers

[A. Mani]

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CITU Denounces Police Atrocity



THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has denounced the brutal
lathicharge by police on a peaceful demonstration of around 15,000
villagers and coalmine workers who were opposing the eviction of the
villagers and contract workers residing and cultivating in the land
adjoining the coalmines of Eastern Coalfields Ltd in Pandabeswar area
of West Bengal. The police lathicharge on the villagers and workers
who were peacefully squatting since the last few days against the
eviction order issued by Eastern Coalfields Ltd has left several
people severely injured. These include the CITU leader and local MLA,
Gauranga Chatterjee, who received severe head injuries and was
admitted to a hospital in serious condition.



In a statement issued on June 22, the CITU described as shocking as
well as deplorable the fact that the management of a central
government company like Eastern Coal Fields (ECL) sought to evict
around 30,000 poor villagers and contract workers from 11 villages
adjoining Pandabeswar just to hand over the area to private mining
contractors. The threatened villagers include peasants, bargadars,
agricultural workers etc, apart from mine workers. The Colliery
Mazdoor Sabha of India (CITU) had already lodged their protest against
the ECL’s eviction order in favour of a few private contractors and
joined the villagers in protest programmes.



While protesting against the police atrocities, the All India Coal
Workers Federation of India has decided to hold a protest
demonstration in all the collieries throughout the country on 24th
June 2011 and urged all the coal workers’ unions irrespective of
affiliations to join the protest action.



While condemning the police atrocity as well as the evil ploy of ECL
management to oblige the private contractors by forcibly dislodging
more than 30,000 villagers, that too without any appropriate
compensation and rehabilitation covering all affected people, the CITU
has demanded that the government of India and the coal minister in
particular must restrain the ECL management from such this forcible
eviction drive. It has also urged upon the state government to take
action against the police officials responsible for the barbaric
lathicharge on a peaceful democratic protest.

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A. Mani



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