http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Dalits-vacate-Indu-mill-after-govt-assures-memorial-land/Article1-788919.aspx
Dalits vacate Indu mill after govt assures memorial land
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, December 30, 2011
The state government managed to keep its assurance to the Bombay high
court by convincing Dalit activists and monks to vacate the Indu mill
premises in Dadar on Thursday.
The controversial issue of allocation of the entire 12.5 acres of Indu
mill land for the proposed memorial to
Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar is likely to be resolved when chief minister
Prithviraj Chavan leads an all-party delegation to meet prime minister
Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Friday.
The decision of the Republican Sena workers to vacate the mill, which
they have forcibly occupied since December 6, came after home minister
RR Patil made the assurance at a public meeting organised by
Republican Sena president and Dr Ambedkar's grandson Anandraj.
The Dalits are demanding that the entire 12.5-acre mill land be
allotted for the memorial, instead of the four acres earlier earmarked
by the government. The land belongs to Centre-run National Textiles
Corporation.
Sources close to Chavan said that the Congress convinced the PM to
allot the entire land as civic polls are slated to be held in Mumbai
and nine other cities in February. Dalit voters, with 12% presence
across the state, enjoy a significant say in electoral politics. The
call had to made urgently as the code of conduct for these polls is
expected to come into force in the first week of January.
Anandraj said that he had temporarily withdrawn the agitation. "We
will peacefully withdraw from the mill premises."
"We had made it clear that we will vacate the premises the day the
government announces the memorial," he added. He, however, said that
the bust of both Lord Buddha and Dr Ambedkar will remain in the mill
premises under police security.
The police said the eviction was peaceful amid heavy deployment of
personnel. Mumbai police spokesperson Nisar Tamboli said that no
untoward incident was reported.
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