Thaindian News

Kolkata, July 7 (IANS) Alleging that efforts were on to snatch lands tilled by marginal farmers in parts of South 24-Parganas and Bankura districts, West Bengal’s main opposition Left Front Thursday said it would launch an intense campaign to stand by the victims.

Left Front chairman Biman Bose said that a delegation would hold a sit-in outside parliament when it is in session to protest the atrocities committed on Left party workers and supporters in the state since the Trinamool Congress-led government came to power in May.

“Our delegation will go to Delhi and hold a sit-in outside parliament when it is in session. We will also give a deputation to the central government,” Bose said.

However, the date has not been decided yet.

Alleging that the peasants’ livelihood was under threat under the new regime, he said: “In some districts, efforts are on to snatch land for which title deeds were given in the 1990s. The successors of the erstwhile landowners were trying to evict poor peasants. The livelihood of sharecroppers and marginal farmers is under threat.”

He said in South 24-Parganas district’s Haroa, poor peasants have been evicted from large stretches of land with the help of the administration and the police.

“To terrorise the victims, their thatched houses have been set afire. In parts of Bankura, Trinamool Congress cadres are trying to evict the poor peasantry,” Bose said and announced that a delegation of Left Front legislators will visit Haroa soon.

Bose also alleged that elected panchayats (rural self-governing bodies) were not being allowed to function in the state.

“In some cases, the panchayat functionaries have had to flee from their localities due to atrocities. In some other areas, the bodies are not being allowed to function. Hurdles are being put up in the functioning of even those panchayats where the Trinamool Congress or the Congress is in power.”

He said the Left Front will also launch a movement in the state from July 15-19 and then from July 22-25 on issues like corruption and adoption of an effective Lokpal legislation.