2 die as police clash with protesters at Vedanta plant

BHAWANIPATNA

: At least two persons, including a jawan, died and many were injured in clashes between police and protesters outside

Vedanta

Ltd’s

aluminium

plant at Lanjigarh in

Kalahandi district

on Monday. The deceased were identified by police as Dani Batra, a protester, and Sujeet Kumar Minz, a jawan of Odisha Industrial Security Force (OISF).

OISF is a state security force that is under police command.

The incident comes less than a year after police opened fire on demonstrators protesting against the operation of another Vedanta plant, its copper smelter in

Thoothukudi

in Tamil Nadu, killing 13 people.

A group of around 70 local people, who are likely to be displaced due to the commissioning of a proposed project by the company, were on a dharna outside the firm’s main gate in Lanjigarh, demanding contractual jobs and education for their children in a public school free of cost. The agitators alleged that the district police along with the OISF personnel used force and resorted to lathicharge to stifle their voice and threaten them to withdraw the protest.

“We were on a peaceful dharna. But police forcibly tried to evict us from the spot. When we resisted, they resorted to lathicharge. This left one Dani Batra dead and several injured,” a protester from a nearby village, who refused to be named fearing police backlash, said. Maheswar Pati, another villager, said the violence broke out after some police personnel misbehaved with the agitators.

Police, however, denied the allegations of high-handedness. “Our personnel used utmost restraint to control the mob. The mob went on the rampage, vandalized the company premises and attacked our staff. The protesters even set several articles on the company campus on fire. Many of our personnel were injured in the mob attack. A CISF jawan died due to the mob attack,” Kesinga’s sub-divisional police officer, Gupteswar Bhoi, said.

Ashok Kumar Roul, an inspector of OISF said, “The agitators pelted us with stones. They were extremely violent and refused to calm down despite several attempts by us.”

Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan hit out at the state government and police over the industrial unrest. He tweeted, “The police supported the company’s goons and attacked poor protesters.”

In a press statement, Vedanta condoled the death of the deceased. “We are deeply saddened by the news and offer our condolences to the families of the deceased. We will fully cooperate with the authorities who will be looking into the incident. We sincerely appeal to the protesters to not to resort to such acts when a situation can be resolved amicably through discussions,” the company statement said.