Khunti village tribal residents undo Patthalgadi

The villages of Khunti, especially those where tribal residents have been blindly supporting Patthalgadi movement, seem to be finally limping back to normalcy after continuous intervention by the district administration. So much so that they have begun removing the paththal (monoliths) put up by them during the last couple of years.

The villagers of Chiteramu under Siladon panchyat in the district today removed the monolith describing sovereignty of Gram Sabha they had installed in the village. The decision came after the villagers took assent of the Gram Sabha a couple of days back, where they came to a conclusion that the present form of Patthalgadi was not in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution. 

The villagers first worshipped at the place of Patthalgadi today in the traditional way and removed the stone the same way they did a year ago when the stone was put up. Notably, Chiteramu was the first village to do Patthalgadi with such inscripted stone giving a distorted message from the Constitution to the people and it became the first village to remove the stone.     

Gram Pradhan of the village Ashok Munda said that there was anxiety among the villagers following the unrest because of the recent form of Patthalgadi in the area. The villagers were troubled by recent incidents of clash with security forces and the crimes that had taken place in the Khunti recently.

“We had taken the decision to remove the stone on July 12 in the Gram Sabha meeting. A number of people were misguiding us saying that the government will confiscate our land and other assets leaving us in penury. But, now we have understood that they had ulterior motives and they did not want our betterment,” said Munda.

Khunti Circle Officer Vijay Kumar said that it was one of the happiest moments for the administration as well as the villagers that the distorted form of Patthalgadi was being undone. “It was the first village where Patthalgadi in its distorted form was done and today it became the first one to remove the stone. Patthalgadi is a sacred tradition being practiced by the tribal inhabitants since centuries but the wrong precedence was started a couple of years back only. We all respect Patthalgadi in its purest form,” he said.

Kumar further added that since the villagers have chosen between development and unnecessary protest against government, the administration will support them in every possible way. “We shall provide all possible support to the villagers here and make sure that the villagers living in adjacent areas learn from the kind of development works government can accelerate in the villages,” added Kumar.

Several villages of Khunti districts were in national news after cases of Pattalgadi against government and recent gangrape case. Also, four policemen were abducted by Patthalgadi supporters and were released after three days of police operation few days ago.