Local tribals in the “liberated zone” of Bastar in Chhattisgarh get a sinking feeling when the first monsoon shower hits their areas as Maoists appear in their villages in no time to herd them to the fields to engage them in agriculture operations as bonded labourers.
Intelligence sources said members of jan militia (armed grassroot-level rebels) force the tribals, including women, to do cultivations in the lands, earmarked for the Naxals in each village, without paying any wage.
“Besides farming, the tribals are also forced to work in the fish ponds owned by Naxals in their respective villages. All these agriculture lands and fish ponds have been illegally and forcefully occupied by the Naxals,” a senior intelligence officer of Chhattisgarh police told this newspaper here on Saturday, adding, “This is a common sight in the whole liberated zone in south Bastar passing through dense forests of Abujhmad in Narayanpur district, and in remote parts of Bijapur, Sukma and Dantewada districts in south Bastar in every monsoon.”
The tribals who dare to defy Naxal dictat are either evicted from their villages or simply executed, the Chhattisgarh intelligence officer added.
“In fact, the monsoon season witnesses large scale migration of tribals from these areas who refuse to work as bonded labourers for Naxals. Such tribals from Narayanpur district flee to my area during the period to escape Naxal wrath,” Kanker district superintendent of police (SP) Rahul Bhagat said on Saturday.
Quoting such tribals, Mr Bhagat said the Naxals also allot farm lands to the local tribals for doing cultivations during monsoon. Since, no land pattas have so far been issued to the tribal residents of the forested villages, Naxals play the role of arbitrators during distribution of farm lands to the locals in every monsoon.
Villagers are asked to gather at a particular place in the locality on an appointed day to get “land pattas of the season” from the Maoists.