Villages in East Singhbhum seek ban on non-tribals, allege encroachments
The development came after the alleged encroachment and construction of houses in a tribal cremation ground in Tilkagarh, under Parsudih police station in Jamshedpur city of East Singhbhum district for the past three to four months. Tilkagarh is a semi-urban census town on the fringes of Jamshedpur.
Ahead of World Indigenous People Day on August 9, tribal people from over two dozen villages and tollahs in Haludbani and Purihasa gram sabhas in East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand have decided to ban the settlement of non-tribals in their villages.
A meeting of traditional village heads, under the Majhi-Pargana self-governance system, and villagers unanimously decided that non-tribal people would henceforth be disallowed to build houses, flat complexes, and settlements in villages, with a majority tribal population, as this has been adversely affecting their social, cultural, religious rituals, and worship system, people familiar with the developments said on Monday.
The development came after the alleged encroachment and construction of houses in a tribal cremation ground in Tilkagarh, under Parsudih police station in Jamshedpur city of East Singhbhum district for the past three to four months. Tilkagarh is a semi-urban census town on the fringes of Jamshedpur.
Former Singhbhum MP and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Ulgulan (JMM-U) leader Krishna Mardi, who presided over the meeting on Sunday, said on Monday that they were forced to take such an extreme stance to protect their existence and cultural identity.
“Some people encroached on our cremation ground and have started building houses. Even tribals are not allowed to carry out such activities in the cremation ground, Jahersthan (worship area). Then many flat complexes have come up in the area without any knowledge of the gram sabha, despite it being the supreme decision-making body in tribal self-governance system areas like East Singhbhum district under the fifth schedule of the Constitution,” Mardi told HT.
He said dirty water and waste materials flowing out of these complexes were also polluting the villages and damaging the cleanliness of their villages and the sanctity of their lives.
“Their lifestyle is influencing our children adversely and endangering the society and cultural existence. We are not against flats for poor people under PM Awas Yojna, like in Uttar Pradesh or even here. But that should be done with the consent of the gram sabha. But we will oppose flats by private parties and builders strictly,” said Mardi, conceding that some tribal people were handing over their lands to outsiders on power of attorney for the lust for money.
Village heads like Muniram Mardi, Ramsai Soren, Yuvraj Tudu, Ramchandra Tudu, Sukuram Hembram, Ghasiram Murmu, Gopal Murmu, and over 200 villagers attended the meeting on Sunday.
“A delegation from Haludbani gram sabha will submit a detailed charter of demand to the district administration and the police to immediately stop all such illegal construction in the area to protect tribal land,” said Lakhan Hansda, majhi baba (traditional village head).
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ST Morcha national executive member Ramesh Hansda said the fear of losing identity and endangering existence among the tribal people was “very real”.
“There has been a drastic change in the demography of not just East Singhbhum but also the entire Jharkhand, despite it being a state created for the tribals and having a tribal CM at the helm and a long list of political parties claiming to be serving the tribals. There are areas where the tribal population has come down to 5% from over 50% earlier due to the settlement of people from other states. But we tribals are also to be blamed - it will stop if tribals stop selling their land to the outsiders for the lust for money,” said Hansda.
In a similar development, hundreds of villagers from Purihasa, Sundernagar, Nildungri, Jondragoda, and about 23 villages and tollahs under the Purihasa gram sabha also brought out a rally, led by Purihasa majhi baba Bhokta Hansda, in protest of mushrooming flat complexes in the rural areas of Purihasa under Sundernagar police station.
“The builders and moneyed people have been constructing multi-storey buildings and flat complexes in the area in connivance with the district administration. Hardly any action is taken despite our repeated complaints. This is a blatant violation of the Constitution and the fifth schedule under which nothing can be done without prior permission from the gram sabhas. This has resulted in water scarcity and filthy waste,” said Bhokta.
East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri could not be contacted despite repeated calls.
