Jharkhand bandh on Orissa firing

Tribal leaders of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh—both states with large tribal populations—today called a bandh on January 7 to protes...

Tribal leaders of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh—both states with large tribal populations—today called a bandh on January 7 to protest the deaths of 12 tribals during Monday’s police firing in Kalinga Nagar.

The decision came at a CPI-hosted meeting, attended by representatives of the Congress, the JMM, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the CPI(M), the CPI (M-L) and the Marxist Coordination Committee—all of them opposition parties in the NDA-ruled state.

Visiting Kalinga Nagar today to take stock of the aftermath of the incident, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren described the firing as “inhuman and barbaric”. Alleging that it was a planned operation, the JMM supremo also demanded the resignation of Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Soren said the JMM would go to the NHRC with the matter of the bodies returned with missing limbs to the victims’ relatives. ‘‘All officials responsible for the killing of the tribals should be booked for murder and dismissed,’’ he said.

Declaring that the spot where the killings took place be called Veerbhumi, Soren said those who had died had become martyrs and would be given the same prestige as tribal icons Birsa Munda and Siddhukanu. Each January 2, he said, a gathering would be organised at the spot to honour their sacrifice.

All that tribals want, the JMM chief said, is an assured income and land in return for lands they had to vacate. They do not want cash for their land, he said, noting that the compensation they have received so far has, in any case, been meagre.

Tribals are not against industrialisation, Soren said, but they must be properly compensated for the sacrifices development requires them to make.

Story continues below this ad

Soren was accompanied by four Jharkhand MLAs and by party MP Sudam Marandi.

Jajpur collector, SP transferred; ex-gratia hiked

Bhubaneswar: The Orissa government on Thursday transferred the Jajpur district collector and its superintendent of police following the police firing in Kalinga Nagar. Collector Saswat Mishra has been transferred as joint secretary in the agriculture department and SP Binaytosh Mishra is now SP (Crime Branch). Meanwhile, the Orissa government has increased the ex-gratia amount for the victims’ families from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. — PTI