By IANS
Raipur : Maoist militants have announced a strike Oct 30 in mineral-rich Bastar region to protest against the government’s move to allow state-owned Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) mining access to Bastar’s Rowghat hills.
Police recovered several banners, posters and leaflets Sunday from the interiors of Bastar region, asking people to protest the government’s “meaningless industrialisation at the cost of local impoverished tribal community”.
Rowghat is located in a forested stretch of Bastar region’s Narayanpur district having massive fine quality iron ore deposits. The SAIL, railway ministry and the Chhattisgarh government will soon sign a Memeorandum of Understanding (MoU) for laying rail tracks to allow SAIL’s flagship unit Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) to mine iron ore.
The posters also said that development of Rowghat for SAIL will displace a vast tribal population from their native hamlets.
Presently, BSP is mining iron ore from Dalli Rajhara location in Durg district, around 95 km from the Bhilai plant, which has stocks left for around four years.
After signing the MoU, the railways will extend the rail tracks to Rowghat areas from Dalli Rajhara.