Koshi Flood Victims Threaten to Launch Civil Disobedience for Tax Abolition

Patna: Ahead of annual flooding and its devastating affect, hundreds of people living within the embankments of Koshi river in Bihar’s Supaul district, have threatened to launch “civil disobedience” movement to put pressure on the state government to fulfill their demand of tax abolition.

Unlike the past, they are up in arms this time and have already launched a campaign to mobilise support from each of the hundreds of villages that have been trapped within the embankment.
 

“We are ready for dialogue and discussion with the government despite its attitude of consistently ignoring our genuine demands. If the government still continues to reject our demands, we will be forced to launch a Jan Andolan,” Mahender Yadav, president of Koshi Nav Nirman Manch (KNNM) told NewsClick.

He added, “If our peaceful agitation and struggle for rights of the Koshi flood victims fails to move the state government, we will call a Lagan Mukti Koshi Mahapanchayat (Freedom from tax Koshi mahapanchayat) to take a final decision for launching a civil disobedience movement. We want the government to ensure the abolition of tax on Koshi flood victims, who are living within the embankments for years, suffering and struggling for survival.”

Also read: Displaced Flood Victims Stage Indefinite Satyagraha Demanding Rightful Compensation

In addition to the continuous apathy of the state government, the Koshi flood victims were further disappointed when the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s office in Patna on Thursday, June 27, refused to accept the application of 3,800 farmers demanding tax abolition law. KNNM was also not allowed to meet the chief minister to share their grievances and demands.

Yadav said that the officials at the CM’s office clearly told them that they will not accept the farmers’ application despite repeated requests.

Seven teams of KNNM, led by local villagers have collected application from farmers, who are all Koshi flood victims, for freedom from tax.

There are 380 villages within the Koshi embankments on the Indian side and 34 villages in Nepal. They were given rehabilitation on the embankments but no 'land for land' principle was adopted for them. They were supposed to live in the rehabilitation sites and cultivate their land located within the embankments.

The KNNM recently concluded a long march in Koshi region to mobilise farmers, who have been forced to live within the embankment for years and have become victims of floods year after year. “The land between the two embankments is full of silt, making agriculture impossible. Life is full of challenges and difficult. In view of it, farmers have been demanding freedom from tax and cess collected by the government from them,” Yadav said.

According to him, land is cultivable only six months of the year when there is no flood. Most of the farmers and workers were affected and displaced by the construction of the embankment, but they are made to pay tax for the silted land as well as the produce.

Also read: Elections 2019: Development of Koshi Region Still a Pipedream For Flood-Hit Villages

Last year too, KNNM had organised a long march along the villages of Koshi river in the state, under the banner of Lagan Mukti Kosi Samvaad Yatra, that highlighted how the natural flow of the river has been "obstructed" thanks to construction of embankments on both sides of the river. Besides, it also aimed to highlight how the floods have damaged the farmers’ prospects by heavy siltation. The farm produce is continually ruined due to sudden flooding and silting.

Indranarayan Singh, another activist associated with KNNM, said, “Our democratic fight is for freedom from unjust taxes and cess imposed on people living between the two embankments. It is a fight to cope with miseries due to living within embankments.”