Tirkey Opposes RIMS-2 on Nagri Land; Ansari Rules Out Rollback

Weeks after Leader of the Opposition Babulal Marandi protested against the RIMS-2 project, allegedly on tribal agricultural land in Nagri, Ranchi, former minister and Congress state executive president Bandhu Tirkey met chief minister Hemant Soren on Saturday, seeking his intervention in the matter.

- Raj Kumar

RANCHI:

Bandhu Tirkey, whose daughter, Shilpi Neha Tirkey, is the state agriculture minister, also sought direction from the concerned officials to drop the RIMS-2 project at the site.

"Acquisition of the land of the raiyats and villagers who are earning their livelihood by farming in Nagri for RIMS-2 is such a negative and anti-development action, which should be stopped at any cost. Direct the concerned officials to immediately cancel the plan to construct RIMS-2 in Nagri, as it is a matter directly related to the livelihood of those villagers who are looking towards the government with great confidence," Tirkey told reporters, claiming he had conveyed this message to the chief minister during their meeting at his residence on Kanke Road.

A firebrand tribal leader, Tirkey said earlier many attempts were made to grab the land from tribal possession, and this is a fresh attempt. He said if this is done, it will be against the people. "Many attempts were made to acquire the cultivable land of the villagers for IIM, IIIT or widening of the National Highway, but after strong opposition from the villagers and their justified demands, those plans were cancelled. But now, the way conspiracies are being hatched to acquire land for the construction of RIMS-2 is completely against the sensitive sentiments of the popular government towards the common villagers and farmers," he said.

The senior Congress leader Tirkey said it would be wrong to take villagers' land in the locality, as the cultivable land in the area is not in proportion to the population.

"In proportion to the population, there is not enough cultivable land in the Nagri region. Also, the important thing is that most of the people there are dependent on farming for their livelihood," he said.