Burdwan: Thirteen people were injured
on Sunday after police lathicharged and lobbed tear gas shells to
disperse stone-pelting villagers protesting the completion of
a steel plant`s boundary wall here, officials said.
The villagers of Purushottampur, from whom land had been
acquired in 2007 for IISCO Steel Plant`s modernisation and
expansion, were demanding jobs while objecting to the
completion of the boundary wall.
They tried to stop work when a gap in the wall was being
covered, Subrata Gangopadhyay, ADCP of Asansol-Durgapur Police
Commissionerate, said.
The clash took place when police personnel present there
intervened and the villagers started pelting stones at them,
injuring one, he said.
A contingent of police and RAF which later arrived was
also attacked by them, Gangopadhyay said, adding police then
lathicharged and lobbed teargas shells leading to 12 people
suffering injuries.
Chandrasekhar Roy, one of the injured and a leader of
the Purushottampur Jamihara Committee, an organisation of
those whose land had been acquired, and six others were
arrested in this connection, he said.
The villagers later demonstrated in front of Law Minister
Malay Ghatak`s residence at Purushottampur for sometime.
PTI
