Hyderabad, February 15: The temple town of Bhadrachalam virtually turned into a sea of humanity on Monday as scores of tribals from across Bhadrachalam agency and other parts of the district thronged the town to participate in the massive dharna organised by the Girijana Sangham here.
The tribals laid a siege to the office of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) vociferously demanding their due share of development funds in the next budget and redress of their grievances.
Huge rally
They came in a huge rally from agriculture market yard to the Integrated Tribal Development Agency office and staged a ‘Maha Dharna’ under the leadership of Communist Party of Inida (Marxist) Polit Bureau member and Member of Parliament Brinda Karat, who is also the central committee member of Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM). The protest programme was organised coinciding with the culmination of the 16-day cycle rally organised by the Girijana Sangham to press for higher tribal sub-plan allocation in the next State budget.
‘Numerous problems’
Referring to the numerous problems confronted by the tribals including malnutrition, anaemia and underdevelopment, Ms Karat alleged that the huge stocks of foodgrains piled up in the godowns in the country had become prey to the rats while the tribal children continued to reel under malnutrition.
“The rotten rice is being supplied to the tribals is unfit for human consumption,” she charged and said, “I am inviting the union ministers to visit Bhadrachalam and taste the rotten rice prepared by our tribal women here.”
The government is trying to snatch the lands of the tribals in the name of construction of projects like Polavaram which is likely to submerge as many as 276 villages in Bhadrachalam agency, she said and lamented that the plight of the tribals remained unchanged even as the Chief Ministers changed in quick succession in Andhra Pradesh.
“Praja Rajyam President K Chiranjeevi came to save the Congress government with his 16 MLAs. However, the government cannot be saved without the consent of the people,” she remarked. The AARM would spearhead a sustained struggle to safeguard the rights and uphold the self esteem of the tribals at the national level, she asserted.
-Agencies