Badnawar (Madhya Pradesh): Two migrant labourers from West Bengal went missing shortly after they arrived at Badnawar in Dhar to work at under-construction Soybean plant of ABS Export Limited.
This is the same company which hogged limelight for acquiring 26 bighas of agricultural land from Mogya caste (tribal) farmers with the help of Badnawar tehsildar Ajmer Singh Goud. Free Press had prominently raised the issue on April 7, 2022, and June 19, 2022.
According to information, the duo went missing on March 22. Mohit Yadav of Dinajpur district in West Bengal, lodged a missing report with Badnawar police station. In his complaint, Yadav stated that Shivlal Munda, 36, of Panch Bhaiya and Jeewan Soren, 46, of Harirampur along with 13 others were hired as labourers at under construction Soybean plant in Kherwas village of Badnawar town.
On March 21, all labourers went to bed after dinner and Shivlal and Jeewan were untraceable next morning. Nearby places were searched but in vain. He also shared personal and workplace details with the police. A case was registered, further probe was underway.
With pdfs Earlier, Free Press in its April 7, 2022, and June 19, 2022 editions raised the issue of tehsildar not only helping in registries but also allegedly overlooking the revenue rules of the Madhya Pradesh government. Besides, the factory management had encroached upon government land and building too for construction work.
Tehsildar Goud registered farmers Jagdish Mogya, Kalu Mogya and Prakash Mogya of Kherwas village as scheduled caste, instead of scheduled tribes to get these registries done. He had also registered the agricultural land of Ghanshyam Mogya of Kherwas village in the name of Shahid Ahmed of Dongargarh, Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh on behalf of ABS Export India Limited.
In this way, about 26 bighas belonging to tribals was registered in the name of common people showing that they belonged to the scheduled tribe (ST), which was in violation of Section 165 of the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code. The Code says that a person who is not a tribal will not be allowed to acquire land without the permission of a revenue officer not below the rank of the collector.
The Mogya tribe is a sub-caste of the Gond tribe and is notified under the Scheduled Tribe of the state. Nevertheless, the tehsildar got the agricultural land registered without the permission of the collector.
