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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Nun who led mining protest murdered by Rajesh Kumar Pandey

Nun who led mining protest murdered by Rajesh Kumar Pandey

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published Published on Nov 17, 2011   modified Modified on Nov 17, 2011

A nun from Kerala, known for her decade-long agitation that ensured villagers were adequately compensated before a coal mining company was allowed to begin operations, was murdered near her home in Pakur district last night.

Sister Valsa John (53) was dragged out from her rented house in Pachuara village, 60km from the district headquarters, around 10.30pm and attacked by a gang with weapons, resulting in her immediate death, said IG Arun Arora.

The killers fled the scene soon after, leaving behind Maoist posters though police aren’t willing to pin the blame on the rebels as yet.

“Prima facie, Valsa’s murder appears to be linked to the villagers’ agitation, but the matter is being probed to ascertain whether rebels were involved in the killing or not,” said the IG, adding that DGP G.S. Rath had accorded top priority to the case.

Under the banner of Rajmahal Pahar Bachao Andolan, Valsa led the tribal agitation since early 1995 against land acquisition for the Pachuara coal project, a joint venture of the Punjab State Electricity Board and private firm Eastern Mineral Trading Agency.

An agreement was subsequently reached in December 2006 after the company, Panem Coal Mines Limited, said it was ready to offer the compensation package Valsa had helped the villagers frame.

Among the conditions set, apart from cost of land according to market rates, were an alternative tract of land, employment, a school and free education for children of displaced families and a health centre.

One theory is that she may have fallen foul of a section of the villagers in Pachuara, who felt she had “sold out” to the coal company while framing the 2006 agreement that resolved the decade-long land dispute.

But, former deputy chief minister Stephen Marandi, who was a witness during the signing of the agreement between her organisation and the company, vehemently disagreed.

He maintained her murder was the handiwork of anti-socials who failed to call the shots during negotiations due to Valsa’s popularity.

“Sister Valsa sacrificed her life for the well-being of the tribal people and played a major role in ensuring a suitable rehabilitation package from Panem. It will be wrong to say she dumped the people with whom she launched her agitation,” he said.

DGP G.S. Rath said the police were looking at all angles. “It appears that villagers were unhappy with her activities. But, prima facie it does not appear to be the work of Maoists,” he said.

Cardinal Telesphore P. Toppo has demanded time-bound investigations into the “mysterious murder ” of Valsa. “I do not know the reasons behind the murder of a Sister, who belonged to the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary congregation. What I do know is that a Sister, who had left her family and friends at faraway Kerala to work amongst the poor and downtrodden in remote Pakur district of Jharkhand, has been murdered,” the Cardinal said.

“Her murder is a shame for all of us in Jharkhand,” he added.

Valsa will be buried at a cemetery near a church near Dudhani in Dumka, around 60km from her home tomorrow.

Irrespective of whether the police are able to link Valsa’s murder to her activism centred around the coal mining project, Panem’s operations have been far from smooth in Jharkhand.

In October 2009, two senior company officials — former executive director (coal mines) D. Saran and assistant mines manager Shital Prasad — were gunned down by three persons in Paharpur near Pachuara while they were on a morning walk.

WITH INPUTS FROM RANCHI


The Telegraph, 17 November,2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111117/jsp/frontpage/story_14761136.jsp


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