Ratlam: People of Kanjhar community of Madhya Pradesh, known for all kinds of criminal activities like robbery, smuggling and kidnapping, are now collecting tax from villagers for their security.
Since the past few years, such a unique and unsolicited tax is being charged from the villagers by this community, which is also called 'chowkidari tax or safety tax.'
This tax is collected from the villagers by none other than the crooks who commit theft and robbery.
On one hand, the heads of the state are talking about doing away with the miscreants and mafia from the state and on the other hand, the crooks of Kanjar community have become synonymous with terror for the villagers residing in the Alot area of Ratlam district.
The villagers and farmers have united against this terror of the Kanjars that have been going on for years and have now made up their mind to find a complete solution to this problem.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, Shankarlal, a villager said, "The members of the Kanjar community steal villagers' electric motors, motorcycles, cows and buffaloes and they also collect the money through middlemen and demand grain and cash from each farmer in return for not carrying out theft in the village."
"At the same time, they are carrying out the incident of assault on farmers who are unable to provide extortion money and they also rob their goods. This is the reason why a big dispute has arisen between the villagers and the members of the Kanjar community," Inder Singh, another villager said.
Terror of Kanjar community continues
The terror of the members of the Kanjar community inherent with criminal tendency continues in many districts of Malwa Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh.
The Madhya Pradesh Government and Social Justice Department have also carried out various schemes to encourage the Kanjar society to join the mainstream of society and giving up crime.
But even today in a part of Alot region adjoining Rajasthan, people of Kanjar community are still involved in criminal activities like theft and loot.
Safety tax is being charged on similar lines of films
The Kanjar community camps the Chomela, Patan and Tokra regions of Rajasthan region, from where they commit theft and robbery in Alot and Agar Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh.
These robberies are carried out on the lines of many films which came in the 70s and 80s; the people of the village here have to pay the safety tax in return for any wrongdoing that may be carried out by the robbers.
"Villagers residing in more than 100 villages of Alot area live in a panic due to the misendeavours of the members of the Kanjar community, who frequent this area now and then to extort money from them," said Mahendra Thakur, a local.
"The miscreants refer to this extortion money as ‘Chaukidar Pratha’ or practice to ensure peoples’ and say that the villagers will have to cough up money to ensure the security of their crops and goods, otherwise the incidents of theft will start in the village," he said.
"Most of the villagers troubled by the terror of the Kanjars, pay the safety tax in cash as well as in-kind in the form of food grains after the harvest. In case of theft of any goods in the same area, the middlemen who are connected with the Kanjar community become active and they deal with the Kanjars themselves to get the stolen goods back," he added.
What kind of actions has been taken by the police?
What makes the matter more interesting is all these wrongdoings have been continuing for years right under the nose of Alot police station. But the police are still ignorant of this system and practice.
Additional Superintendent of Police of the district, Sunil Patidar said," The police take action on receiving complaints of crime. Patrolling of the affected areas is also done from time to time. But many cases do not reach the police, for which it is important to sensitise the local population."
Villagers protest against the Kanjars
This menace which has now become insufferable in the Alot region, the villagers of Kalsia village, who were affected by the Kanjar nuisance, attacked the Kanjar's hideouts in Unhel police station area of Rajasthan and brought their family members to Alot.
But the Rajasthan Police have registered a case against 6 farmers under various sections including that of kidnapping. After which the villagers of the area resented and thousands of villagers reached the Rajasthan border and Alot police station and demonstrated.
When the team of ETV Bharat reached this area and came to know about this problem and unique tax system, the villagers told that due to the inaction of the police, they have to pay the Chowkidari tax in order to protect their crop and goods. But this time the villagers have become agitated and have resolved to root out this problem.
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