Grabbing of cane farmland protested

Hundreds of workers of Rangpur Sugar Mills in Gaibandha staged a protest rally in front of the mill's gate yesterday against illegal grabbers, who occupied land belonging to Shahebganj cane farm saying that the land was their ancestral property.

At the rally organised by Rangpur Chinikal Sramik-Karmochari Union, the speakers said some vested quarters helped local landless people including aborigines to occupy the mill's land. Hundreds of people started capturing government properties and erecting houses from Friday afternoon in the name of land recovery committee.

The speakers demanded immediate removal of the houses erected on the land of sugar mills.

Around five years ago, the mill authorities declared lay-off and leased portions of farm land to local influential people. On restoration of production in the sugar mill around two years ago, the authorities started cane cultivation on the farm land cancelling all the leases. That angered the lease holders and they started agitation, the speakers said.

They said they will launch a tougher movement if the administration does not take the land back from the grabbers.

At 3:00pm the agitators brought out a procession that paraded the main roads and later besieged the deputy commissioner's (DC) residence. The leaders handed over a memorandum to the DC's office asking for immediate eradication of the illegal grabbers from the land of the cane farm.