Showdown averted at occupied estate

Pathanamthitta, September 3: A bloodbath was averted at Chengara in this central Kerala district after police prevented angry employees of Harrison Malayalam Plantations from entering the estate occupied by Dalits and other backward communities demanding land. The joint action council of the estate employees on Wednesday served an ultimatum to the Dalit agitators, saying that they should vacate the estate by September 10.

Thousands of Dalits and landless tribals have been staging an agitation at the estate, after occupying it, since August 4, 2007, demanding land for the landless. The agitators, under the banner of Sadhu Jana Vimojancha Munnani, have sought distribution of the Government land, illegally occupied by the estate.

Though the agitation has completed one year, the Government is yet to take any step to clear the estate of the protestors. Last month, employees laid a siege to the estate with 3,000 Dalits camping inside.

CITU district secretary K C Rajagopal, who addressed the march to the estate on Wednesday, said if the Government did not compel the agitators to vacate the estate, the employees would be forced to chase them out of the place.

Intelligence reports had said that any attempt to chase the agitators away from the estate would lead to major law and order problem. Hence, the police averted a showdown between the agitators and the employees.