Ranchi: Communist Party of India (Marxist) politburo member Brinda Karat on Friday lashed out at the Raghubar Das government and accused it of grabbing land belonging to tribals and commoners in the name of preparing a land-bank to woo investors.Karat, ho was in the city to meet party leaders and villagers on Friday, said, "We are not against getting investments for industrial development, but not at the cost of the land rights of the tribals, farmers and other land-owners." The party threatened to take on the government at a rally in the city on April 8 on the land-related issues."The state government has disregarded all laws and norms and have resorted to a behaviour which can only be termed as a land grab scam ," Karat, who also met residents of 16 villages near Namkum, said. "Villagers told me they were not consulted by the government before their land was earmarked for a South Korean project. They have been staying at these villages for 60-70 years and yet their land rights are being disregarded. This is not a sustainable mode for industrial development," she added.Blaming the state government for a partisan attitude, Karat said, "People who live on mineral-rich pieces of land should also be given financial and other benefits, according to the Fifth Schedule (which regulates administration and control of scheduled areas and scheduled tribes). But, the so-called transparency in the government's land acquisition and other activities, is only limited to industrialists. When it comes to the rights of the farmers and tribals, the laws are disregarded."

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