5 days ago
Babulal sheds crocodile tears for tribal land owners, says JMM
Ranchi: JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya on Sunday accused the leader of the opposition and state BJP president Babulal Marandi of shedding crocodile tears for tribal raiyyats (landowners), who are opposing land acquisition for second campus of the Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (Rims) in Nagri area under the Kanke block.
Speaking to media persons on Sunday, Bhattacharya said during Marandi's tenure as chief minister, police firing incidents took place during which people protesting against land acquisitions for projects in Tapkara in Khunti and Neterhaat in Latehar were fired upon. Marandi should apologise for the incidents, the JMM leader said.
Notably, Marandi visited Nagri on Saturday and met people, who were opposing Rims-2 in their area.
Marandi alleged that the state govt wanted to displace tribals from their agricultural land but he would not allow the acquisition of even an inch without approval of the gram sabha in the villages.
Reacting to Marandi's visit and statement, Bhattacharya said so far, the state govt has not issued any notification regarding the place where the new hospital would be built and according to the plan, the new hospital should come up along the ring road.
He also claimed that Marandi is raising the issues to serve the interest of one Sunil Sahu. "Details will be provided later on," the JMM leader said.
Bhattacharya also said Marandi as the first CM of Jharkhand, adopted the Bihar rules for administering the state which was against the vision of separate Jharkhand for preventing exploitation and protection of tribal identity and rights. He also said during that period, the opposition had demanded the framing of the state's own rules for protecting the tribal land, but Marandi ignored it.
"There is a provision in the Land Acquisition and Reform Act 2013 which states that any acquired land not used for five years should be returned to the raiyyats. Marandi must request the BJP-led central govt to return the surplus land of Steel Authority of India Limited, Coal India Limited and Heavy Engineering Corporation in the state," Bhattacharya said. He also took potshots at Marandi saying that when BJP national president and Union health minister J P Nadda called the state's health minister Irfan Ansari for discussions on improving the health facilities in Jharkhand, the state BJP president felt bad about it as he was ignored.
