Villagers protesting the Rawghat iron ore mining project in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district on Friday tried to enter the collector’s office and clashed with the police. Some protesters as well as police officers were injured in the scuffle.
Hundreds of villagers are protesting against this project in Kohadgaon village of the district under the banner of Raughat Sangharsh Samiti. The project will be built on the Rawghat hills, which border the Naxal-affected Narayanpur and Kanker districts of the state.
#Watch , Chhattisgarh: A clash broke out between police and locals on Friday after they tried to enter the collector’s office over the Rawghat iron ore mining project in Narayanpur district. pic.twitter.com/6oU6dIxWAt– ANI MP / Chhattisgarh / Rajasthan (ANI_MP_CG_RJ) 1 April 2022
On Friday, protesters gathered at Binjali village and marched towards the collector’s office in nearby Narayanpur town to give a 20-point memorandum demanding that the project be stopped. The police tried to stop them, but the protesters managed to break through the barricades and reached the area outside the collector’s office where senior police officers tried to pacify them.
After this a delegation was allowed to enter the office premises to meet Collector Rituraj Raghuvanshi. But some protesters started shouting slogans against the administration and stormed. A scuffle broke out between him and the police personnel. As the police had to use force to control the situation, Collector Raghuvanshi came out of his office and assured the protesters that the administration would take necessary steps.
Videos of the protest showed police lathi-charging the protesters to disperse them. According to villagers, some of the protesters were injured. Narayanpur Additional Superintendent of Police Neeraj Chandrakar said that about 10 police personnel were also injured. The injured personnel have been admitted to a local hospital, he said.
In a memorandum addressed to the state governor, the villagers said that the tribal community of the area considers Rawghat Hill to be an incarnation of their deity Rajarao Baba, and will not allow mining in their place of worship. It added that mining will also destroy minor forest produce which is their source of livelihood and affects more than 22 villages and results in pollution and displacement.
The Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), which has been allotted the Rawghat mines, had received permission from the Union environment ministry in January this year to mine and transport three lakh tonnes of iron ore per year from the Anjrel region (which falls in Narayanpur). The memorandum claimed that the roads, but the Gram Sabha of any affected village has not given its consent.
However, BSP officials claimed that all necessary permissions have been obtained. The Rawghat iron ore project is important for state-owned SAIL’s Bhilai Steel Plant as the ore in its existing mines is depleting. The company had obtained Environment Clearance (EC) and Forest Clearance (FC) for the mine till 2012. The company is also investing a substantial amount to build logistic infrastructure like the rail line from Dallirajhara to Rawghat to transport the ore.
We have got all the necessary clearances for small quantities of mining in the Anjarel block, which falls in the southern part of the Rawghat mining area. Mining was started there after getting ‘entry on permission’ from the state government. A BSP official said that we had taken consent for mining in Anjrel from the local gram sabha and gram panchayat twice in 2019 and 2021. Mining is likely to start in the main Roghat area by 2024-25 after the completion of Dallirajhara-Rawghat rail line, he said.
with PTI input
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