: United under the banner of ‘Koraputia Jana Suakshya Sangh (KJSS)’, tribals held a demonstration at Semiliguda in Koraput district on Wednesday to protest against alleged infringement of their land rights.
Environmental and social activists alleged that through the ordinance, the Central Government had attempted to dilute the Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement and Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act 2013 and Forest Rights Act.
They were critical of weakening of gram sabha during land acquisition process, which had protected the Niyamgiri hill from mining in the recent past. The tribals are also wary of atrocities during anti-Maoist operations by paramilitary forces.
Around 4,000 tribals, who took part in this demonstration at Semiliguda took out a rally and handed over a memorandum addressed to President of India and Odisha governor at the office of the local tehsildar.
Their major demand was proper rehabilitation of 971 tribal families that had been displaced because of a unit of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at Sunabeda in Koraput district way back in 1962.
