By IANS,
Raipur: About 25 people were injured and over a hundred were detained Monday in Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir-Champa district when police cane-charged a gathering protesting an upcoming thermal power plant.
The protestors, local farmers, turned violent against a land acquisition bid by KSK Energy Ventures Limited, the company planning to set up the 3600 megawatt coal-fired KSK Mahanadi Power Project at Nariyara village in Akaltara district, some 170 km from state capital Raipur.
“Police had to cane charge protestors after they started pelting stones and assembled at the local office of the company. Around 25 persons sustained injuries and some 100 others were taken into custody,” officials at the police headquarters told IANS.
Extra policemen had been deployed at the proposed plant site as police fear more violent protests.
Janjgir-Champa district is located in centre of Chhattisgarh and has state’s prime agriculture double-crop land. The local people are reportedly highly upset with the government decision to allow 33 private power majors to acquire land for setting up coal-based plants.
Activists have been questioning the government’s move to offer prime land to industries in a district where over 70 percent of land has irritation cover.