Chhattisgarh Police arrests 75 for protesting against power plant

Seventy-five people protesting against a power plant in Janjgir-Champa district of Chhattisgarh were arrested after police reportedly resorted to lathi-charge to disperse hundreds of agitators.

The villagers, who were arrested on Monday, today resorted to a hunger-strike inside the jail. The arrested people have been detained in Bilaspur Central Jail as the district jail in Janjgir-Champa did not have the capacity.

The trouble began when hundreds of villagers gathered outside the construction side of a 3600-Mw power plant to be set up by KSK Mahanadi Power Company, a unit of Hyderabad-based KSK Energy Ventures Ltd in Nariyara village, about 160 km from here.

The company had acquired land from the farmers without paying them the compensation, farmers leader Virendra Pandey said. The company officials had asked farmers to come on Monday and settle the matter, he added. Hence, hundreds of villagers gathered outside the plant site. The company, however, failed to respond to a query sent through e-mail to its corporate communications head Rohit Raj Mathur.

According to Pandey, the company officials failed to settle the issue and showed their reluctance to end the deadlock that irked the villagers. The policemen, who were deployed in a large number at the spot, resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the crowd.

The Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Janjgir-Champa, S C Srivastava denied that police resorted to lathi-charge. When the unruly crowd tried to forcefully enter the plant site, police tried to stop, Srivastava said, adding that 75 people were arrested under section 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Pandey, however, contended the claim of the administration and said over dozen of villagers were injured in the brutal police lathi-charge. The injury marks on many villagers stand testimony to the barbaric act of police, he said.