An ongoing demonstration against a coal mining project in the Tamnar area of Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district got violent, injuring many police officers and setting cars on fire, according to officials.
In addition to vandalizing the office buildings on Saturday, the mob broke into Jindal Power Limited's coal handling factory and set fire to a conveyor belt, two tractors, and other vehicles, according to the officials.
After demonstrators engaged in stone-throwing and set fire to a police bus, a jeep, and an ambulance in addition to causing damage to numerous other government vehicles, tensions were reportedly high.
According to a statement from the district administration, residents of 14 impacted villages under the (Gare Pelma) Sector-I coal block in the Tamnar area have been holding a sit-in protest at CHP chowk in Libra village since December 12 in opposition to a public hearing for the project that was held on December 8 at Dhaurabhatha.
About 300 demonstrators gathered at the location on Saturday morning, and some of them are said to have obstructed the road, interfering with traffic.
Around ten in the morning, senior revenue and police officials intervened and convinced the demonstrators to go back to their tents at the approved protest location, according to the statement.
But as more people from neighboring villages joined, the gathering grew, reaching a strength of about 1,000. The statement said, "The crowd allegedly turned violent around 2:30 pm, breaking police barricades and attacking personnel with stones and sticks, despite repeated appeals through loudspeakers by revenue and police officials to maintain peace."
The attack seriously injured a policeman, Tamnar police station in-charge Kamla Pusam, and Sub-Divisional Officer of Police Anil Vishwakarma. Several other police officers, including female staff, were also injured, according to the report.
In addition to damaging a number of other government vehicles, the mob allegedly set fire to a police bus, a jeep, and an ambulance.
In addition to vandalizing the office space, the demonstrators allegedly proceeded to the Jindal company's coal handling plant (CHP), forced their way inside, and set fire to a conveyor belt, two tractors, and other vehicles, according to the release.
Even after local lawmakers from Lailunga, Vidyawati Sidar, Raigarh Collector Mayank Chaturvedi, and Superintendent of Police Divyang Patel arrived to calm the mob, the situation did not improve, according to the report.
According to the district administration's statement, stones were thrown once more and there was another reported arson incident inside the CHP plant.
Security has been strengthened in the area, according to police, who claimed the situation was tense but under control. Reporters were informed by Collector Mayank Chaturvedi that the administration had been providing the required facilities while the villagers had been peacefully sitting at the protest location for the previous fifteen days.
"Some anti-social elements incited demonstrators on Saturday between 2 and 2:30 pm, and stone-throwing started, wounding security officials stationed at the location.
Public authorities, district administrators, and police officers made more attempts to negotiate, but the mob continued to be hostile and seemed to lack a leader, he added.
He continued, "Efforts are underway to identify responsible individuals from the crowd in order to restore dialogue." The collector stated that the injured people's conditions are stable and that some had been sent to Raigarh for better care.
The villagers stated that they have been calling for the proposed mining project to be cancelled and that the public hearing that was held to approve it went against established procedures.
They claimed that after police tried to evict demonstrators from the demonstration venue on Saturday morning, things became tense.
Rajesh Singh Markam, an agitator from Kasdol village in the Tamnar area, filed a complaint with the Raigarh SP on Saturday, alleging that the local SHO has been threatening him.
On social media, some said footage of the altercations went viral. A few women were observed attempting to protect a female police officer who was being attacked by other women in the mob.
Deepak Baij, president of the Chhattisgarh Congress, described the conflict as regrettable and attributed it to the "stubbornness" of the state government.
According to Biaj, the state administration is forcibly removing tribal people and villagers from their land and woods in order to extract coal.
In Tamnar's Gare Pelma Sector-I, villagers and tribal people protesting the alleged forcible allocation of the coal block and a "fake" public hearing were subjected to police lathi-charge at the request of industrialists, he said, and the enraged villagers replied. "The villagers were holding a peaceful agitation but were provoked by the government's approach," Baij stated.
