Farmers in distress

Published : Dec 03, 2004 00:00 IST

The brutal repression of a farmers' agitation in Sriganganagar district point to the indifference of successive governments in Rajasthan to the acute water shortage in the area.

in Sriganganagar

A GROUP of mourners sit in the porch of Jetharam Meghwal's mud house in village 3 GD in Ghadsana tehsil in Ganganagar district of Rajasthan. It is eight days since Jetharam was felled by a police bullet on October 27, as he was gathering fodder. The day Jetharam died, three others were killed - all farmers participating in an agitation demanding that the government release from the Indira Gandhi Nahar Project (IGNP) their share of water for the rabi crop. There is a tremendous drinking water shortage in the village, the underground water being brackish. Jetharam's family is landless and its members depend on agricultural labour round the year. But the generosity of the poor knows no bounds; tea is offered to everybody visiting the house.

Said Buta Singh, an elderly peasant, with tears in his eyes: "Whom else should we approach for work and water if not the government? Where will the poor go if the government turns a blind eye? My friend has been killed. What use is the compensation?" Ghadsana falls in the Bikaner Lok Sabha constituency from where film actor Dharmendra contested and won on the Bharatiya Janata Party ticket. Water was one of the issues on which the elections were fought here and a lot of promises were made regarding releasing adequate water for irrigation. But Dharmendra has not visited his constituency after the incident, preoccupied as he must be with the box office success of his latest film Kis Kis Ki Kismat.

Popular resentment against the government was visible in the violent events of October 26-27, which left four persons dead and two police stations and one Sub-Divisional Magistrate's (SDM) office ransacked and burnt. Curfew was imposed in as many as four townships in the district - Ghadsana, Vijaynagar, Anoopgarh and Rawala.

For over a month, farmers, both big and small, had been sitting in protest in front of the SDM's office in Ghadsana tehsil demanding the release of IGNP water. They were particularly concerned as the time for sowing the rabi crop was almost over while the kharif crop output had been dismal following a weak monsoon. Once lush with cotton fields, several blocks in the State were in the grip of a dry spell. Barring a few, most of the agitators would leave for their homes in the nearby villages at night and return again the next morning. It was a peaceful protest and none, including the local media, took much notice of it.

On October 26 evening, after most farmers had dispersed, the administration decided to act. The police and also personnel of the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary (RAC), who had been called out several days in advance, lathi-charged the remaining protesters and then went into the homes of people in the nearby townships, beat them up and even their children, and looted property.

The news of the police action in Ghadsana spread like wildfire. In Rawala, 25 km away, farmers who had supported the Ghadsana agitation marched to the local police station to protest against the lathi-charge. In the ensuing melee, three persons were shot dead by the police while a few police vehicles and two police stations were set afire.

The Additional Director-General of Police (ADGP), R.J. Meena, told Frontline that the agitation was led by Communists and Congressmen. He said there was no popular demand from the farmers for more water and that the big farmers who were using most of the water were responsible for inciting others. The leaders of the Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangharsh Samiti, the front which led the agitation, had purchased land illegally from the original settlers, he added.

But the farmers say that the front comprised all sections involved in agriculture, including peasants and landless labourers. In fact, all the four killed were landless peasants dependent on agricultural work, which had become scarce on account of crop failure resulting from lack of water.

Meena justified the lathi-charge by saying that the farmers had held 150 officers in the SDM's office prisoners. But several advocates in the SDM's court said that the administration had openly directed the police to target homes and individuals. An advocate said that the RAC commander accompanied by the Additional District Magistrate barged into a house, broke the outside gate and vandalised a stationary car. After the incident, the SDM, the ADM, a Station House Officer (SHO) and a Deputy Superintendent of Police were given "punishment" transfers. The State government has set up a judicial inquiry under a retired Judge to probe the incident.

Hetram Beniwal, a former legislator belonging to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and a veteran farmer leader, is one of the "communists" behind the agitation. As most of the leaders of the Sangharsh Samiti have been lodged in the Bikaner jail, Frontline met Beniwal. Beniwal traces the genesis of the agitation to the 1960s when the decision to dam the Beas was taken. The Pong dam was constructed over the Beas in 1966, and several displaced families were given land in Sriganganagar. Of the 8 million acre feet of water that was Rajasthan's share (Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir were also getting water from the Pong dam), 50 per cent was to go to areas including those that are currently under curfew. These areas are irrigated by the first phase of the IGNP. The canal was made into a perennial one. The land under the first phase was fertile, as it was the flood plain of the Beas and the Saraswati rivers. But the land under the second phase turned out to be sandy and porous.

Beniwal says that the command area, which was initially 16 lakh acres, has expanded to 36 lakh acres with lift canals taking water to places such as Jodhpur, nearly 600 km away. The Congress and the BJP worsened the situation by indiscriminately permitting the construction of too many canals to serve their political constituencies. This decreased the water in the first phase so much so that the canal, which used to have adequate water supply 190 days of the year, now releases water in the outlets only 30 to 35 days a year. This meant that the kharif crop could not grow at all, while rabi crops such as wheat and mustard could not even be sown. Said Beniwal: "The agitation was all about releasing water for the rabi crop. The local administration said that the State government would decide on such matters. When there was no response, we gheraoed the SDM's office on October 25 but there was no siege as they have alleged."

The new SDM of Ghadsana, Vasudev Sharma, remained tight-lipped about the incident. He, however, said that the only way out was to start a dialogue with the farmers. "There is resentment among the people. That cannot be denied," he said. S.M. Meena, who was also present in Ghadsana, admitted that the dialogue with the farmers had not made much headway as they were "stuck on the water issue". Contrary to what the farmers said, Meena said that the protesters were armed.

The response of the State government has been baffling. It was only on October 30 that Public Works Minister Rajendra Singh Rathore and Irrigation Minister Sanwarlal Jat met the leaders of the farmers, but neither of them gave any assurance on the issue of releasing water. The State BJP government has squarely blamed the Congress(I) and the Left parties for the agitation. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia, who is yet to visit the affected district, accused the Congress of creating the mess. While the Opposition parties may have channelled the discontent of the farmers, the BJP government, which is yet to complete one year in office, should at least acknowledge where it went wrong.

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