REPORT

AIALA organised a dharna before the East Godavari district Collector at Kakinada on Nov. 9 against the AP Govt.’s proposal to acquire 10,000 acres of land for an ONGC oil refinery project and a SEZ near Kakinada. This will evict people from 6 villages. The agricultural labourers in all these villages are organised under AIALA banner to protest this project.

Convention on ‘Save Delta’ in TN

A Save Delta Convention was held in Tanjore on
19.11.05, in a background of deepening
agricultural crisis due to the combination of drought and flood due to release of excess Cauvery water. Comrade D P Bakshi, PB member, addressed the convention.
The Convention called upon people to ‘Save the Delta’;
that is, save the agriculture and agricultural laborers,
the rural poor and the toiling peasantry of the Delta. The convention was presided over by Com Annadurai, State President of AIALA, and Comrades Kumarasami, Sankar,
CCMs also attended the conference. Comrade Balasundaram,
State Secretary of the Party addressed the gathering.

 Andhra Pradesh State AIALA Conference

Andhra Pradesh state unit of All India Agricultural Labour Association was concluded on 7 November, the 88 th anniversary of October Revolution, in East Godavari district. The Conference began after paying homage to martyrs and flag hoisting by veteran Comrade MGM from Nalgonda. The inaugural speech was delivered by CPI(ML) State Secretary NVVSN Murthy. A very impressive rally and procession was also taken out which left a good impact on the general masses in Eluru town.

Nearly 400 delegates, 21.5 percent of them women agri. workers, represented three major regions of the state - coastal Andhra, Telangana and Rayalseema - and eight districts, namely, East Godavari, West Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Krishna, Srikakulam, Anantpur, Nalgonda and Adilabad. The draft of the work report was presented before the Conference which was passed unanimously after detailed discussions. The Conference elected a 51-member State Council which in turn elected eleven office bearers including K Narayana as State President and B. Bangar Rao and State Secretary. Comrade Malleshwar Rao was observer for the Conference while Comrade D P Buxi, CPI(ML) Polit Bureau member delivered the concluding speech.

The conference pledged to strengthen and shape AIALA as a foremost rallying centre of the agricultural labourers in the state and resolved to make the Second AIALA National Conference to be held in Rajamundry a great success.

District Conference in East Godavari

The Second East Godavari District Conference was held in Ramachandrapuram on Oct. 28. The Conference demanded employment guarantee for the whole year and elected a 19-member District Executive and 51-member Council with Arjun Rao as President and Viplab Kumar as Secretary. A rally was also held before the Conference.

After the long spell of severe drought, the heavy downpour wrought immense loss and severe damage in Tamil Nadu. 51 lost their lives, and more than 2.5 lakh hectares of crop loss has been reported in Tamil Nadu, especially in the districts of Chennai, Tiruvallore, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam. With an eye on forthcoming polls, CM Jayalalitha announced a relief-package for the affected, but corrupt- AIADMK leaders and inept Government officials made sure that the relief did not reached to the needy. Moreover, there is a huge gap between the actual need and what is being made available. Shockingly, 6 women lost their lives in the stampede during distribution of relief, due to criminal negligence of the ruling AIADMK. CPI(ML), AIALA, AIPWA and other mass organizations took many initiatives to mobilise the affected and agitate for relief.

In Tiruvallore district, the CPI(ML), AIALA led the masses in several places. In Karanodai under the banner of CPI(ML) and AIALA, nearly 1000 people rallied and stoutly agitated, forcing the Administration to accept their demand.

In Chennai, a 500 strong mass, mostly women and youth, agitated in front of the Administration office of Ambattur municipal town, led by Comrade Bharati of AISA, Comrade Devaki of AIPWA, as well as leaders of AICCTU and RYA.

In Nagapattinam, the flood, when people have barely begun to recover from the tsunami, wrought fresh havoc. AIALA leaders forced the Administration to shelter the affected people in safe places and to provide food and relief materials to the agricultural labourers and other poor sections. In Tiruvotriyur area of Chennai thousands of aggrieved people assembled put up a road-blockade in several places. The agitation at one of these places was successfully led by Comrade Sivaprakasam of Workers Solidarity Forum. Similar initiatives were also taken in Madavaram area.