Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan team visits Kanhar

Varanasi: A fact team of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan (GBA) visited Kanhar Dam being constructed in Sonbhadra district on Sunday to take account of the police action against the protestors of dam.
The CBA team comprising Alok Shukla, Sudha Bharadwaj, Jangsay Poya, Degree Prasad Chauhan and Bijay Gupta came to a conclusion that the demands of the affected farmers, particularly dalits and adivasis, are reasonable and the administration should enter into discussion with them to redress their grievances.Work on the dam should be stopped during such negotiations so as to create an atmosphere of goodwill. The PAC used excessive force on protestors on April 14 and 18. The complaints of the protestors should be registered as FIRs and action taken against police personnel.
The team observed that using the threat of false cases against protestors to arm-twist them to accept compensation and rehabilitation is a form of state terror.
Deputy general secretary of All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP) Roma alleged that the team led by Kavita Krishan of CPI(ML), Priya Pillai of Green Peace and activist of Singrauli and others were detained by Sonbhdra police on Sunday night.
The Duddhi police said that they were asked not to move in naxal affected area at night. Duddhi SO Manoj Pandey said that since the prohibitory orders are in place, movement of people in groups could not be allowed. Most of the villagers are in support of dam construction. The district magistrate of Sonbhadra also held meeting with villagers in this regard. The work is in progress.