BERHAMPUR: Even as people across Ganjam celebrate Durga Puja with pomp and fervour, a family from Laudigaon within Golanthara police limits in the district, is leading a miserable life after being ostracised by for not parting with its land. The family of 17 including two school children were ostracised by a kangaroo court of the village committee on August 23. The family was meted out the treatment as it did not agree to part with its ancestral land. S Mahesh, the head of the family, said he and the others used to earn a livelihood by plucking kewda flowers from the land. This apart, a few members of the family worked as daily wagers at nearby places including IISER. The family’s ordeal started when a few villagers tried to take over the land forcibly. The matted reached Golanthara police which managed to settle the issue by asking the two sides to reach a compromise. Mahesh’s family thought the worse was over. But the village committee, in a meeting, barred the family from the village. The diktat issued at the kangaroo court meant that the family was barred from buying essentials from shops and collect water from tubewells in the village. Even the children were barred from taking tuitions in the village.
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