By IANS
Raipur : Over 100 farmers in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district, a majority of them women, were arrested to stem the spiralling protest over acquiring land for mining by Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL), officials said Friday.
“Over 100 farmers including 66 women of coal-rich areas of Raigarh district were arrested so far as they were trying to fuel anti-Jindal protests after the Jan 5 violence,” a senior police officer of Raigarh district told IANS over phone Friday.
At least 50 people, including 15 policemen, were injured Jan 5, when a crowd of over 1,000 people, mainly poor farmers, turned violent during a public hearing of JSPL at Khamaria village, 275 km northeast of state capital Raipur.
The people were enraged when JSPL officials, in the presence of the police and district administration officials, asked the people to hand over their lands to the company for coal mining in order to feed its power plant.
JSPL has a 1,000-MW coal-fired power plant at Tamnar in Raigarh district.
The officer said the arrests were made as protesters refused to lift a road blockade that began Jan 5 to allow the police to go to the villages to contain the protest.
Anti-Jindal farmers have reiterated Friday that they will not hand over their land to JSPL for coal mining.
They have sought an immediate judicial probe into the Jan 5 police brutalities on them during the public hearing.