Kanhar dam issue: Tribals still on warpath, deadlock continues

Varanasi: The stalemate continued for the third consecutive day on Thursday as tribals evinced no interest in negotiating with the district administration. Tribals are on a warpath against land acquisition for Kanhar dam project in Sonbhadra district.
Mirzapur divisional commissioner Anil Kumar and DIG, Vindhya Range, SS Singh visited Kanhar project site but failed to convince demonstrators into a meeting.Sonebhadra DM Sanjay Kumar and SP SS Yadav are already camping in the area along with heavy police force since Wednesday morning.
DM Sanjay Kumar told TOI, “We sent several messages to demonstrators for talks to end the deadlock. The decision on dam is still pending at National Green Tribunal. But, the demonstrators are leaderless and not ready to respond measures initiated by the district administration.”
The crisis erupted on Tuesday when tribals led by All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP) protested against acquisition of land for Kanhar dam project. Police used force and allegedly opened fire after the protest turned violent. While Aklu Kharwar of Sundari village of Sonbhadra suffered bullet injuries, Duddhi SO Kapildeo suffered serious injuries. Both were later referred to Varanasi. Two FIRs were lodged against 50 identified and over 300 unidentified persons under different sections of IPC in this connection.
However, even after these developments the tribal people of nearby areas restarted sit-in by blocking Amvar-Korchi road, the road leads to dam site. It is alleged that some groups of tribal people had also forced the officials and staff of private company handling the project in trans-Kanhar area to flee from the scene leaving their machines and other equipment. The demonstrators did not leave this site even on Thursday.
The DIG Vindhya Range said that Sonbhadra officials are trying their best to end the deadlock but rigid attitude adopted by the demonstrators is proving a hurdle in this way.
On the other hand the AIUFWP general secretary Ashok Choudhary claimed that protesting people have stopped the work of construction of Kanhar Dam. The DM called activists for talks. He said that on Thursday the Wyndamganj police came to take out the JCB machines from the dam site area. People have done complete blockade and said that they will not budge till the CBI inquiry in police firing is done and FIR done on the officials who did the firing. Further, the work in the dam site has to be officially stopped. Other important movement groups from Kaimur region like Mahan Sangharsh Samiti, Singrauli have also joined the protest on Thursday. The D.M. has also been informed that a high level delegation from the Land Right Movement Alliance will be reaching Sonbhadra on April 18 and would have a direct talk with the district administration.