Several policemen were injured and vehicles set ablaze after a protest against a coal mining project turned violent in the Tamnar area of the Raigarh district in Chhattisgarh, officials said.
According to news agency PTI, the mob stormed into the coal handling plant of Jindal Power Limited, and torched a conveyor belt and two tractors and other vehicles.
They also vandalised the office premises on Saturday, the officials were quoted as saying.
“Tension prevailed after protesters indulged in stone-pelting and set ablaze a police bus, a jeep and an ambulance, besides damaging several other government vehicles,” they said.
“On Saturday morning, around 300 protesters gathered at the site, and some of them allegedly blocked the road, disrupting traffic,” the statement said.
It claimed that senior revenue and police officials intervened around 10 am and persuaded the protesters to return to their tents at the designated protest site.
"However, the crowd continued to swell as people from nearby villages joined, taking the strength to around 1,000. Despite repeated appeals through loudspeakers by revenue and police officials to maintain peace, the crowd allegedly turned violent around 2.30 pm, broke police barricades and attacked personnel with stones and sticks," the statement added.
Sub-Divisional Officer of Police Anil Vishwakarma, Tamnar police station in-charge Kamla Pusam and a constable sustained serious injuries in the attack, and several other policemen, including women personnel, were also hurt, it said.
"The mob then allegedly set ablaze a police bus, a jeep and an ambulance, besides damaging several other government vehicles. The protesters then reportedly moved towards the Jindal company's coal handling plant (CHP), forced their way inside and torched a conveyor belt, two tractors and other vehicles, besides vandalising the office premises," the release said.
The situation did not ease even after local legislator from Lailunga, Vidyawati Sidar, Raigarh Collector Mayank Chaturvedi, and Superintendent of Police Divyang Patel reached the spot to pacify the crowd, it said.
Stones were again hurled, and another incident of arson was reported inside the CHP plant, the district administration's statement added. Meanwhile, police said the situation was tense but under control, and security has been tightened in the area.
Collector Mayank Chaturvedi told reporters that villagers had been sitting peacefully at the protest site for the past 15 days and the administration had been ensuring necessary facilities.
"On Saturday at around 2 to 2.30 pm, some anti-social elements provoked protesters and stone-pelting began, injuring security personnel deployed at the site. Further attempts were made by public representatives, district administration and police officials to hold talks, but the crowd remained aggressive and appeared leaderless," he said.
Efforts are on to identify responsible persons from the crowd to restore dialogue, he added.
The condition of the injured is stable, and some have been shifted to Raigarh for better treatment, the collector added. Villagers said they have been demanding the cancellation of the proposed mining project and claimed the public hearing held for its clearance was against prescribed norms.
They alleged that the situation turned tense after police attempted to remove protesters from the demonstration site on Saturday morning.
One of the agitators, Rajesh Singh Markam of Kasdol village in the Tamnar area, on Saturday submitted a complaint to Raigarh SP claiming he has been facing threats from the local SHO.
Some purported videos of the clashes went viral on social media. They showed a woman police officer being assaulted by women in the crowd, while a few others were seen trying to shield her.
Chhattisgarh Congress president Deepak Baij termed the clash unfortunate and blamed it on the state government's "stubbornness". The state government is forcibly displacing villagers and tribals from their forests and land for coal mining, Biaj alleged.
Villagers and tribals protesting the alleged forcible allotment of the coal block and a 'fake' public hearing in Tamnar's Gare Pelma Sector-I were subjected to police lathi-charge at the behest of industrialists, after which the agitated villagers retaliated, he claimed.
"The villagers were holding a peaceful agitation but were provoked by the government's approach," Baij added.