Ray of hope for man on ‘longest dharna’
There’s a ray of hope for school teacher Master Vijay Singh, who has been on dharna for 20 years -- the longestever by a single individual in the country, as per the Limca Book of Records.
The crusader, who has been demanding release of 4,000 bighas government land from the possession of land grabbers in village Chausana (now in Shamli), on Monday got an assurance from special secretary (revenue) JP Sagar that necessary action would be taken in the case.
It is learnt that Singh has been protesting since February 26, 1996 against some land grabbers who had captured gram sabha land in Chausana village (then in Muzaffarnagar district).
Due to the longest single-man protest by Master Vijay Singh, his name found mention in many books of records. According to Singh, his name was included in the Limca Book of Records in 2011, Asia book of Records (2014), Indian Book of Records (2013), Unique World of Records (2015) and World Records of India (2015).
Talking to HT, Vijay Singh informed that after the formation of the Samajwadi Party government in UP in 2012, he started a pedestrian march from Muzaffarnagar to Lucknow and brought the matter to the knowledge of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on April 28, 2012.
According to Singh, the chief minister had directed the then personal secretary Shambhu Singh Yadav to form a probe committee to take action in the matter. After the chief minister’s direction, the special secretary of revenue department, JP Sagar had formed a probe committee.
However, Singh alleged that after receiving all the documents related to his protest, neither the committee members visited Chausana village for spot verification nor they submitted any report to the state administration. On Monday, when special secretary (revenue) JP Sagar went to Muzaffarnagar to review the department’s work in the district, Vijay Singh narrated the entire episode regarding the illegal grabbing of 4,000 bigha land in Chausana and demanded immediate action. The special secretary assured him of necessary action in the case.