Minjali, a PVTG from Niyamagiri hills levels serious charges against police
Rayagada (Badal Tah): “I am Minjali & I am not a Maoist. Why shall I surrender to police as a Maoist. Why should I take Rs. Two Lakhs from Govt after the surrender ? I have never seen a Maoist & held or operated a gun. I love my village, my tribal brethren and family. I can maintain myself with enough products given by Niyamagiri hills. Police has orchestrated the whole episode”, said Minjali Sikaka, a young tribal lady belonging to a Primarily Vulnerable Tribal Group(PVTG) from Lakhpadar village og Kalyan Singhpur village in Rayagada district.
Lakhpadar village is around 75 kms from district headquarters Rayagada and one has to traverse miles of deep forests to reach this village inhabited by 25 PVTG ultra-poor households. Most of the walls of houses are plastered with mud. The village has no electricity and several other development deficits. The village road is undulated beside which there are two rows of houses. Most of the villagers either do not speak or understand Odia. But they are fluent in their mother tongue Kuvi. According to the local tribal leader Lada Sikaka of Niyamagiri Surakhya Samiti, which has taken the lead in protesting extractive mining activities on several hills, police has filed false cases against many tribals because they are a part of the anti-mining movement. “If we surrender, we agree that we are Maoists or ally with them. When we are not at all involved in any such activity & have not made any mistake, why should we surrender ?”, questioned Lada with lots of anguish against the Govt.
There are two special agencies named Dangaria Kandha Development Agency(DKDA) operating in Chatikona, Bissam Cuttack Block and Parsali, Kalyan Singhpur Block. Hundreds of crores of money has been pumped into Dangaria Kandha Tribe community through Odisha PVTG Empowerment & Livelihood Improvement Programme(OPELIP) sponsored by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a UN agency stationed at Rome Italy & Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GOI. Odisha Govt’s St-SC development Deptt is implementing the project without any tangible impact. There is a person named Minjali Sikaka working in DKDA-OPELIP-Chatikona project as a contractual worker which is reflected in HRMS number-96090954; but their officials did not confirm it.
Though Ex-Collector Swadha Dev Singh & Ex-SP Vivekananda Sharma visited this Lakhpadar village, interacted with Lada & other villagers and drank ragi gruel with them and it was a good initiative to mainstream the resisting tribals, it is yet to be aggressively followed up by their successors. A serious dialogue is the need of the hour, opined local gentries.
