People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No. 27
July 07, 2013
|
Vol. XXXVII
No. 27 July 07, 2013 |
Left Front Starts Month-Long Campaign
in Tripura
Rahul Sinha AS
the month of July set in, the entire
state of Tripura once again witnessed the beginning of a
month long programme
of campaign and agitation at the call of the Left Front for
speedy realisation
of five urgent and important demands of public importance
for all round
development of the state. Earlier, division level mass
conventions were organised
by the Left Front at the headquarters of different
subdivisions. Now these are
to be followed by an intense campaign up to the grassroots
level and then
peaceful mass sit-in and other protest programmes in front
of railway stations
and offices of the Border Road Organisation as the
concluding part of the
campaign programme. The
five demands which this Left Front
campaign and agitation seeks to achieve are as below. 1)
Double-laning of the National Highway 44
(NH44) from Dharmanagar to Sabroom should start immediately,
pending the
four-laning of the highway. The work for an alternative
highway from Kukitol ( 2)
Completion of the broad-gauging of railway
line from Lumding to Sabroom via Agartala by 2014,
introduction of a new pair
of trains in the existing metre gauge track between Agartala
and Dharmanagar,
improvement of passenger amenities and safety, change in the
existing time
schedule of the rail service between Agartala and Silchar
(Assam) and creation
of a separate railway division in Tripura. 3) The
decision to do away with government
control over the price and distribution of sugar should be
revoked. The
proposed national food security bill must provide for
universal public
distribution and 35 kg of foodgrains to every family at two
rupees per kg. 4)
Financial sanction for the proposed project
of the state government for economic rehabilitation of the
receivers of land pattas
under the Forest Right Act should be given immediately and
the present act must
be suitably amended to give land pattas to the
non-tribal inhabitants
who have been residing in forestlands since before 1971. 5) The
central government must immediately take
steps to fill up a few lakh of posts lying vacant in its
different departments.
A separate interview centre should be set up in Tripura for
recruitments in the
central government and semi-government departments. PROMISE UNFULFILLED As
part of the campaign the Left Front has
prepared a leaflet in which it has discussed the immediacy
and importance of
the demands. In this leaflet the Left Front blamed the
centre for the delay in
four-laning of the NH44, the only national highway in
Tripura. In 2005, the
prime minister, Manmohan Singh, had declared during his
visit to Tripura that this
highway would be converted into a four-lane highway. But
even after eight years
of this promise, nothing has been done. The condition of the
road has become
pathetic due to lack of maintenance. Now the centre says it
will be a two-lane
road instead of a four-lane one. However, even for that,
financial sanction has
been given only for a tiny stretch of 10 km. If this is the
trend, the question
is: how many years it will take for double-laning of the
almost 330 km long
road from Churaibari to Sabroom? Moreover,
the centre wants to shift the
burden of maintenance of the Agartala-Sabroom stretch of the
highway on to the
state government. This, the Lerft Front said, is completely
unacceptable. It
has demanded that the centre must fulfil its promise of
converting the highway
into a four-lane road and, pending that, double-laning of
the NH44 should start
immediately and adequate money should be granted for the
purpose. At
the same time the centre must also keep
its promise by initiating the work for an alternative
national highway from
Sabroom to Kukitol in In
case of the railways too, Tripura has
been a victim of similar reluctance from the centre. After a
long and arduous
struggle of the masses, Agartala was connected by rail in
2008. But the service
is far from satisfactory. There are no facilities of light,
water or lavatory
in the compartments. The engines and the coaches are
outdated. People boarding
a train from Agartala land in Silchar at the midnight and
face innumerable
sufferings. Another pair of trains between Agartala and
Dharmanagar is
immediately needed. Most
pitiable is the
poor progress in the gauge conversion of the track --- from
the metre gauge to
broad gauge --- between Lumding and Agartala and
construction of a broad gauge
line from Agartala to Sabroom. This too was declared a
national project by the
prime minister himself. But the project started in 1996-97
is far from
completion even today. The gauge conversion project which
started 17 years ago
is yet to cross the border of PEOPLE BEING DUPED AND FLEECED The
next is the issue of food security. The
centre seems to be in a dilemma about what to do on the
issue. At different
times, they talked of promulgating an ordinance or convening
a special session
of the parliament on the issue. But whatever route they may
choose, the
proposed food security bill does not provide for universal
public distribution.
In its election manifesto in 2009, the Congress had promised
35 kg of
foodgrains for every family at two rupees per kg. But now
the UPA government is
talking of providing only 25 kg of foodgrains and at three
rupees per kg. There
is in fact no dearth of foodgrains or
of money. What matters is the political outlook of the
ruling classes, which is
committed to the big business. This outlook is reflected in
the decision to do
away with the system of levy sugar. Now the sugar mill
owners will no more be
bound to sell 10 per cent of their produce at a lower price
to the centre and
the centre will in turn stop supplying sugar through the
public distribution
system. This will result in unabated control of the open
market on the price of
sugar, which will continue to rise, and the state shall be
burdened with a huge
amount needed to supply sugar to the people. It
was the Left parties whose relentless
struggle had led to the passage of the Forest Right Act for
tribal people. The
Left Front government of Tripura has also topped in the
implementation of the
act. Joint pattas have been issued to 1.2 lakh
tribal families for 1.70
lakh hectares of forest land. But the centre has till date
taken no initiative
for economic rehabilitation of these families. The state
government had sent an
integrated scheme for this purpose to the centre almost
three years ago. But
approval and financial grant for the scheme is still
awaited. Also,
the Left Front has been constantly
demanding that the present law must be amended in order to
give pattas
to the non-tribal families who have occupied and have been
residing in the forest
areas prior to 1971. The present legislation does not have
any provision for
issuance of pattas to the non-tribal families
residing in forestlands
unless they have documentary proof of residing in these
areas for 75 years.
This excludes a large number of non-tribal families from the
chance of getting pattas.
But these families account for at least 33 per cent of the
total population
residing in the forestlands. This is a legitimate demand not
only for their
livelihood but also for maintaining and strengthening the
tribal-non-tribal
unity. INVOLVING THE MASS OF PEOPLE The
next demand is on employment. Lakhs of
posts are lying vacant in various central government
departments. At the same
time, even profit making central public sector undertakings
are being
privatised through disinvestment, thus blocking the avenue
of reservation in
employment for SC, ST and OBC. The centre is asking the
states not to make
fresh recruitments. As the Left Front government did not
comply with these
diktats, the state has been punished by depriving it through
negative
recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission which awarded
the state Rs
10,500 crore less than its due requirement. Because of a
letter from the former
PCC president, recruitment in 5000 posts of primary teachers
have been stopped
and schools are suffering from teacher shortages. Hence the
demand for filling
up the vacant posts in central departments and setting up of
an interview
centre for these recruitments in Tripura. The
Left Front has called upon the masses
to participate in the movement in large numbers. After the
division level
conventions were completed, the Left Front is taking the
campaign to the
grassroots level --- up to about 14,000 parra
committees spread across
the state --- in order to involve the maximum possible
number of people in it.
On July 20, peaceful demonstrations and sit-in programmes
will be organised in
front of all the railway stations in the state. Similar
actions will be
organised in front of the offices of Border Road
Organisation on July 31.
