Jt inquiry to probe assault on Bhushan Power & Steel employees

A joint inquiry was today ordered by the East Singhbhum District Administration to probe assault on employees of Bhushan Power and Steel Company by locals during a land survey exercise at a Jharkhand village.

Assuring stringent action against the culprits, Deputy Development Commissioner of East Singhbhum district, Sitaram Bari said, the Jharkhand Home Secretary also enquired about the incident "in detail" today.

On Thursday at Sarmohuda village, three land surveyors of Bhushan Power & Steel were thrashed, garlanded with slippers and shoes and their faces smeared with cow dung by some villagers for conducting a land survey there for the company's proposed three metric tonne steel plant and 900 MW power plant.

"We have already ordered a probe into the incident by the Block Development Officer and the Circle Officer who were present at the time of the incident," Bari, who is in-charge of the district in the absence of the Deputy Commissioner, said.

The report was expected to be submitted within a week, he added.

Meanwhile, the company today threatened to call off plans to invest in Jharkhand. Yesterday they had suspended land acquisition process for the three million tonne per annum integrated steel project after the surveyors were assaulted.

The administration, Bari said, was keeping close watch on middle-men who were inciting the locals.

"In fact, the villagers were not opposed to the proposed project of the Bhushan Power and Steel Company but the middlemen were inciting them," Bari said.