Around 1500 CPI(ML) activists protested on 12 August at the Purnea District HQ demanding that Purnea be declared drought-affected, and raising demands for implementation of the Bandopadhyaya Commission recommendations on land. The gates of the HQ were jammed for several hours. The protestors warned that if the poor continued to be denied their land rights, a land-occupation struggle would be launched in November. The demonstration was led by Purnea District Secretary Pankaj Singh, Madhavi Sarkar, Islamuddin Ansari and several others.
