Mail News Service
Jamshedpur, Jan. 24: The reemerging of Pathalgadi movement at the tribal-dominated West Singhbhum district has left forest department officials at sprawling Saranda forest in fear.
According to information, the situation of Saranda had started changing in December and finally came fore in its ugly form with murder of seven persons of a village by the pro-Pathalgadi activists in Kulikera village under Gudripolice station area. The massacrehas left the forest department officials more frightened.
The pathalgadi movement has its origin in a resistance movement by tribals during British rule. Pathalgadi supporters have been campaigning to collect government identity documents from people in remote hilly villages such as Jono, Gulikera and Burugulikera for the past fortnight.
� There was time when naxalism in Saranda was grave but with the development activities on track even the tourists from as far away as Bengal and Odisha started visiting the place for enjoying the scenic beauty of the sprawling Saal forest since the past two-three years, but things started changing with pathalgadi. Its supporters are spreading sense of fear among the villagers,� said a forest official.
He said that the local people were supporting the forest department officials in getting various developmental projected executed but now have started switching their allegiance to the Pathalgadi movement, declaring outsiders must take permission from Mundas (village heads) for entering into the village or the forest.
Though the chief minister Hemant Soren also went to the affected village and met the bereaved family members and promised that those involved in the carnage would not be spared but
In this region, a section of the Pathalgadi supporters are against any government assistance, unlike in areas like Khunti, where Pathalgadi supporters have voter IDs and other government documents.
Police are however claiming that though prima-facie it appears to be fight between pro-pathalgadi and anti-pathalgadi supporters but they are also probing into personal enmity between two groups one led by current Up-mukhiya (deputy mukhiya) James Burh and another led by Raisingh Burh husband of former mukhiyaMuktaHoro.
