dharna

A dharna was organized on 15 November by the CPIML Local Committee with a 5-point charter of demands on housing for the poor, including allotment of housing to the poor without lengthy and impractical paper work under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. The dharna was presided over by Ward No. 12 Council member Shashi Yadav and attended by people from various wards. AIARLA State Secretary Gopal Ravidas, CPIML leaders Satyanarayan Prasad, Dinesh Chaudhury, AIARLA Zonal Secretary Sanjay Paswan, Shri Bhagwan Yadav, Kaushalya Devi, Hemanti Devi, Phula Devi and others led the protest.

Addressing the dharna, Gopal Ravidas said that the government and administration must give the poor housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana without demanding papers, otherwise the agitation would be stepped up in Masaurhi as well as across Bihar. The Modi-Nitish governments had promised 5 decimal land, pucca houses, toilets and drinking water and free electricity for the poor without paper work but now non-existent papers are being demanded. This is a great betrayal against which the poor will be mobilized and the struggle will be strengthened. Patna District Nirman Mazdoor Secretary Kamlesh Kumar said that local MP Ram Kripal Yadav is fooling the people of Masaurhi with lies and loot by doing a fake ‘shilanyas’ at Eastern Gehri every year. Local MLA Rekha Devi does not even bother to visit the poor to listen to their woes; now the administration is harassing the poor in the name of papers.

At the conclusion of the dharna a delegation led by Kamlesh Kumar met the City Executive Officer and submitted a 5-point charter of demands.