Bhushan Power and Steel today threatened to scrap its plan to set up a mega integrated steel plant in Jharkhand after its surveyors were assaulted by villagers at Sarmohuda near Ranchi. The company has already suspended the land acquisition process for a three million tonne steel plant and 900 MW power plant.
The district administration today swung into action and ordered an inquiry into the incident. Assuring stringent action against the culprits, Deputy Development Commissioner of East Singhbhum district Sitaram Bari said the Jharkhand home secretary also enquired about the incident "in detail" today.
Three land surveyors of Bhushan Power were thrashed, garlanded with slippers and shoes and their faces smeared with cow dung by some villagers for conducting a land survey there for the company's proposed projects there.
"We have already ordered a probe into the incident by the block development officer and the circle officer who were present at the time of the incident," Bari, who is in-charge of the district in the absence of the deputy commissioner, said. The report was expected to be submitted within a week, he added.
The administration, Bari said, was keeping a close watch on middlemen who were inciting the locals.
"In fact, the villagers were not opposed to the proposed project of the Bhushan Power but the middlemen were inciting them," Bari said.
Condemning the assault, industry chambers of East Singhbhum and Saraikela-Kharswan districts expressed apprehension that such incidents would compel investors to flee from Jharkhand.
"Such an incident will send a wrong message and become a major hurdle in the path of the government which is making all out effort to attract investment in mineral-rich Jharkhand," Umesh Kautia, president of Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), said. To instill confidence among the investors keen to set up their units in the state, Kauntia said the state government should act promptly and initiate action against the culprits within a timeframe.
Unfortunately, not a single person named in the FIR lodged in connection with the incident were arrested as yet, he said. Referring to the agitations by villagers at sites identified for major steel plants such as Tata Steel and Arcellor-Mittal in the state, Kauntia appealed to the government to create a conducive atmosphere for the industrial growth in Jharkhand.
Regarding its course of action against the incident, Kauntia said as SCCI was a constituent of Federation of Jharkhand Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and it will follow the action plan adopted by the federation.
The federation had threatened to boycott trade fair if the culprits were not arrested within a week and organise a protest march soon.
Criticising the incident as dampener for the development of Jharkhand, Saraikela-Kharswan Chamber of Commerce and Industry President A K Srivastav blamed the state government for failing to spread awareness among villagers about the benefits of the recently announced rehabilitation, and resettlement (RR) policy of the government.
"How can the government officials at districts and block levels make villagers aware about the benefits of the RR policy when they themselves do not know?" questioned Jharkhand President of the BJP's industry cell and an industrialist Srivastav.
If such opposition continues to take place in the state, how can the Jharkhand government implement the 64 MoUs it had signed with the investors?, Srivastav asked.
"The villagers will not allow middlemen to intervene if they are able to understand the benefits they are supposed to get under the RR policy in lieu of their land for the development projects", he said.
