People's Democracy

LANDLESS Dalit youth, Rakesh Dohre, died on the spot in an unprovoked firing the police recently opened on agitating persons affected by the Gas Authority of India Limited’s UP Petrochemicals plant at Pata in Auraiya (Uttar Pradesh). Many men and women contract workers as well as passers-by were injured in the police lathicharge also. The police arrested 25 persons and created an atmosphere of terror by searching the houses in the area. On the day, policemen were deployed in the area in an extraordinarily large number.

Visiting the affected area, CPI(M) state secretariat member and state Kisan Sabha joint secretary Mukut Singh and CPI(M) district secretariat member Harishchandra Gupta offered their condolences to the bereaved family, and met the injured and other citizens to get a first hand account of the events there.

During this visit, eyewitnesses told the CPI(M) leaders that the GAIL management was infuriated by the demand for better wages and working conditions for the above mentioned employees, and banned the entry of all displaced persons on October 10, 2001. These employees then met the UP chief minister, Rajnath Singh, but in vain. Then they started a dharna in front of the plant on October 17. On October 30, the police resorted to a lathicharge and arrested people in large numbers.

In order to remove a large number of women sitting on dharna at the gate of the plant, the police started assaulting them; there were no policewomen present there. The women’s humiliation led to widespread anger and local people turned out in large numbers. The police and CISF then resorted to another lathicharge as well as firing without any warning, which led to the death of 28 years old Rakesh Dohre. Eyewitnesses also mentioned the death of a Bihari labourer. This is what is suspected because of the flight of all Bihari labourers that very night.

The delegation was told that Rakesh was a displaced and landless, unemployed Dalit youth. He has left behind his 22 years old wife, a three years old son and another son of just a month. He died outside the gate of the plant, but the police and CISF took his body inside the plant. An SDM who hails from the village of the deceased but was posted in another district was immediately summoned and the body was then cremated. The wailing wife of the deceased was not allowed to see her husband’s body. Some hushed voices demanded a second postmortem and the body’s photographs but the administration would not oblige. The promise of compensation of one lakh rupees and employment to the wife of the deceased, turned out to be hollow.

After meeting many of the injured women and men, it was clear that neither their cases had been registered nor were they provided any medical aid. As said earlier, 25 people had been arrested. Now the police are bragging that they had prepared a long list of those to be arrested, and this was what had terrified the people. The SDM had himself taken part in beating up the people. The representatives of the displaced persons were threatened in the police station that the police would not hesitate if it needed to kill 50 more. They said it was not a plant but the Indo-Pak LoC, meaning that anyone who dared to cross the gate would be shot dead. They threatened to teach the people a lesson, so that they dared not agitate. Kanpur divisional commissioner visited the affected area and approved the police action. However, a magisterial inquiry was ordered.

The CPI(M) strongly condemned the incident. It said there was no rationale for a magisterial inquiry as the district administration is itself a party to the crime. The CPI(M) delegation demanded a judicial inquiry, removal of concerned officials from the district and harsh punishment to the guilty, permanent employment to the wife of the deceased and a compensation of five lakh rupees for her, a compensation of Rs 10,000 to each of those injured alongwith medical aid and registration of a case.

Other demands raised by the delegation included immediate employment to all the displaced persons who have been thrown out, proper I-Cards or gate passes for them, better wages and working conditions and implementation of all unfulfilled clauses of the January 6 agreement.

It is important to understand the background of these developments. In 1989, the GAIL acquired about 2000 acres of land at a mere Rs 7000 per acre, and the government promised that about 1000 displaced families and all literate persons of the area would be given employment in the plant. It doled out the hope that the subsequent development would transform the area. Ever since then, that rulers at Delhi and Lucknow had been repeating the promise, but the displaced persons realised from their experience that they were being cheated. Mass discontent did erupt sometimes, but the administration suppressed it with the aid of GAIL authorities, contractors and local politicians. GAIL authorities entered several agreements with the inexperienced leaders of displaced persons, but did not honour them. Frustrated to the core, the displaced persons resorted to dharnas, a relay hunger strike and rallies at the gates of the plant for months together. It was during these struggles that Shobha Singh, a displaced person, had died earlier.

Learning from their experiences, the displaced persons sought support from the CPI(M). It was through the intervention of leaders like late Comrade Samar Chowdhury, Subhashini Ali, AIKS joint secretary N K Shukla and other local leaders of the party and Kisan Sabha that an agreement was reached between the displaced persons and the GAIL. This was perhaps for the first time in the history of the plant that issues like labour law implementation, human rights, working conditions, etc, were properly addressed and settled at the time of the agreement. But the GAIL administration again backtracked. The displaced persons, along with the local people, sat on a dharna on January 4, 2000, at all the four gates of the plant simultaneously. This panicked the local administration and the GAIL bosses, and the police resorted to an unprovoked lathicharge. Later they fired 40 rounds of ammunition and arrested a large number of people in false cases.

On hearing the news, CPI(M) leaders like Shubashini Ali and Mukut Singh reached the spot alongwith the local leaders of the party, and stood shoulder to shoulder with the people. The people continued their dharna for the next 72 hours despite the biting winter season. The people united to foil the repression resorted to by the administration. The GAIL and local administration were forced to negotiate and an agreement was reached on January 6. According to the agreement, all the displaced persons as well as all those who were educated upto intermediate and above or who were technically qualified were to be given employment in a phased manner. It was promised that all remaining displaced persons would be given direct or indirect employment within the fiscal year, and the people’s proposals for the area’s development would be implemented. However, only 385 displaced persons were provided contract jobs in Pata plant and compressor plant together, only 60 persons were given permanent jobs, and 954 were given Green Cards.

The organised and united agitation enthused the people and made them hopeful, but clearly irked the local and GAIL administration. The GAIL again started backtracking. Because of this, coupled with the wrong attitude of some of their own leaders, the people started feeling hopeless. The GAIL administration exploited this situation to drive a wedge in the movement and wean away some persons working in the plant by high-sounding promises. These persons formed a separate committee and gave an undertaking that "they do not need intervention of any outsider." These employees were given a raise of Rs 300 whereas the agreement signed in presence of CPI(M) leaders promised a monthly increase of Rs 1000. Thus these employees walked into the trap set by the GAIL management and all of them were later thrown out.