No choice for forgotten Santhals in Bengal
By Shyam Sundar Roy
MIDNAPORE, April 27: About 500 voters, belonging to over 160 Santhal families living under Shiromoni gram panchayat in Midnapore Sadar block, do not know which party to vote for in the ensuing panchayat elections, as they say none of them are ready to help them.
For, they are being evicted from their “unrecorded” land and constantly threatened to give up their age-old agricultural occupation, their sole source of livelihood, to pave the way for urban growth while no parties have come to their aid.
These Santhal peasantry were tucked away from their ancestral homes in remote villages in undivided Midnapore district by the landed gentry of Midnapore town 50 to 60 years ago to till their land and get them settled.
But even after the emergence of the Left government in West Bengal, the land they had been cultivating was not recorded under “Operation Barga”, although these tribals attended Left Front rallies on several occasions, particularly before each election, shouting slogans in favour of “Operation Barga”, benefiting marginal farmers.
But, in the wake of liberalisation and new economic policy, the Left Front government became more interested in urban development.
As a result, the price of these pieces of land have jumped. The owners are now selling their land, leaving the tribal cultivators in a fix.
In such a situation, neither the Congress nor the Trinamul Congress or the CPI-M have given any attention to their rehabilitation leaving them to starve as the question of getting compensation does not arise since the land was not acquired by the government.
Some of the Santhal villagers have been working in brick kilns while others have been pulling rickshaws to sustain their families.
The Midnapore-Kharagpur Development Authority which has prepared a blueprint for infrastructure development of the twin towns has no such scheme to rehabilitate these marginalised farm communities.
Similarly, on the western end of Midnapore town where a fly-over is being built jointly by the state PWD (roads) and the South-Eastern Railways, about 100 small retailers in the Gate Bazar area who are on the verge of being evicted are uncertain about their livelihood.
They have to cough up Rs 6,000 to Rs 1 lakh in advance to have a selling outlet booked for them below the fly-over.
One such stall owner lamented by saying there are only a few of them who would be able to afford this huge amount. But none of the political parties have been looking into their problem with sympathy, they said.