Tribal group from Guj to meet Rajnath Singh over sand-mining

Members of the Adivasi Kisan Sangharsh Morcha (AKSM) have decided to meet Union Home Minister to bring to his notice alleged land mining activities in the tribal belt of Gujarat.
"Representatives of AKSM will meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on February 24 mainly to discuss the issues of illegal sand-mining in tribal districts of Chhota Udepaur and Tapi in Gujarat," Romel Sutariya, national president of group told reporters here today.
"We will first hold a rally and dharna on the Parliament street in Delhi to raise the issues of tribals in Gujarat, who are being victimised in the state," Sutariya added.

According to him, after they sought permission for protest, Chhota Udepur Collector issued a circular under section 37(3) of Mumbai Police Act, 1951 to prevent alleged terror activities in the district prohibiting assembly of more than four people.
He alleged that the district collector took such steps just to suppress the voice of tribals, who are demanding basic things like electricity, health care and education.
"We sought permission of the district collector to hold demonstration over these things and to protest against illegal sand-mining in the district. However, we have been denied the permission and the collector branded us as 'Naxals who run parallel government in the district'," Sutariya said.

He said the AKSM would hold protest against the Gujarat government's "anti-tribal and anti-poor policies "at Subhash bridge area in the city tomorrow.

However, Chhota Udepur collector Jenu Devan claimed that he never used word Naxal for any tribal group and said, "There are no such Naxal activities in any part of Gujarat."
He said the circular was written in a "stereo type pattern", which led to the confusion.
"My staff members drafted the circular as per our pattern, but as the mistake about terror activities come to our notice, it was rectified," Devan told PTI.