Maoists diktat force farmers from tilling their land

Maoists are demanding illegal taxes from farmers, forcing them either to pay up, or to stop tilling their agriculture fields.

Kundhit (Jharkhand), Aug 9 : Maoists' are demanding illegal taxes from farmers, forcing them either to pay up, or to stop tilling their agriculture fields.

Farmers of Jharkhand's Jamatada region say, Maoists coerce 10,000 rupees from each farmer as taxes to allow them to carry on farming and threaten those who are not able to pay.

"They have been demanding for money, if that did not happen, they threaten. They would not let us work in the farms," said Mani Mandal, a farmer.

"A boy named Rajiv Mandal was working in the field, when he was surrounded by around hundred men and chased away. They said, if we will not pay 10,000 rupees, they will not let us work on the field," said Mal Paharia, another farmer.

The police said that they have sent reinforcements to help farmers.

Hemanth Topo, Sub-Inspector said: "The Maoist cadres had posed a hindrance to the farmers and hence we have sent a police man to the place. As of now, people have been able to till their land."

Maoists operate in 13 of 29 States along the "red corridor", referring to a stretch from the Indo-Nepal border to the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

According to Union Home Ministry report, 76 districts in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are 'badly affected by Maoist violence'.

Maoists say they are fighting on behalf of the rural poor and landless and want to build a Communist state.

ANI