Binayak Sen release committee condemns demolition of VCA

The VCA led by the Gandhian Himanshu has been the voice of sanity and peace in Dantewada,and it consistently exposed the atrocities by Salwa Judum,while keeping a distance from the Maoists,said a statement issued here.

A staunch believer in non-violence,Himanshu exposed the fake encounters of 12 innocent adivasis,who were killed by the police on March 30,2009 and filed a case in the Bilaspur High Court. The statement challenges the Chhattisgarh government and alleged that it did not want villagers to return to their villages,though it has been directed by the Supreme Court. It wants to use the deserted farmlands for corporate purpose.

Angered by VCA’s consistent commitment towards the people’s welfare,the local administration using the pretext of VCA being constructed on revenue forest land,issued an eviction notice in December 2007,which VCA had challenged in the Appeal court. According to VCA the ashram had been constructed on common land of Kawalnar village after the village panchayat passed a resolution way back in 1993,the statement issued by Dr Anand Phadke from the City based Binayak Sen release committee stated.

The VCA received the eviction notice dated May 13 2009,on May 16,asking them to vacate within 5 days, by May 17 and on the following day in the early hours of May 17,the VCA was demolished. Having cordoned off the area,the SDM,Mr Ankit Anand,then informed Himanshu(at 7 am) that he and his family and staff had one hour to remove all their personal belongings,official papers,etc. At 8 am around 4-5 bulldozers began rolling into the Ashram premises and within the next few hours they had razed the entire campus (including training halls,staff quarters,the main office building,and residential area) to the ground not even sparing the tubewells and an open well which had been constructed by the Government. The boundary fence of the Ashram,the boards on the road leading to the Ashram,were also twisted and uprooted. All this continued for four hours. The committee has demanded that the VCA should be restored at the expense of the state and urged the National Human Rights Commission to intervin in this and all other human rights violation in the name of ‘Salwa Judum’.