Mahesh Ghosh, who has refused to give his land for the power plant, being taken to hospital. (Arup Sengupta)

Durgapur, Sept. 23: Suspected CPM supporters today beat up farmers who went to register their opposition to land acquisition for a power plant in Burdwan’s Katwa.

Five men were injured and one had to be hospitalised.

The hearing was stopped soon after it began. Only one villager of the 83 who turned up could be heard. He fled during the trouble and it wasn’t clear whether he was willing or unwilling.

The hearing for the first phase of acquisition — of 350 acres — started yesterday with 80 of the 82 farmers refusing to give their land. Over 400 were to be heard in four days.

Around 1,000 acres belonging to 4,600 farmers are required for the 1320MW project.

When the hearing at the Katwa block office started around noon, the alleged CPM supporters arrived on three tractors and started threatening the farmers in the queue.

“The CPM workers told us to accept the compensation offered by the government and give up our land. I refused and one of them slapped me and threw me out of the queue,” said Hriday Ghosh, 45, who owns 40 bighas (over 13 acres).

Mahesh Ghosh, 30, who intervened, was beaten up with sticks. “They hit me on the head and kicked me when I fell. But I told them I won’t allow anyone to grab my land,” said Ghosh, who owns six bighas.

He received three stitches on his head.

Supporters of the local Save Farmland Committee and the Trinamul Congress soon outnumbered the CPM supporters and chased them away.

“We had anticipated this and sought protection. But the policemen at the block office didn’t come to our rescue,” said Debaprasad Chatterjee, a leader of the Katwa committee.

Trinamul leaders blocked the Katwa-Burdwan Road for over three hours demanding that the acquisition plan dropped. Burdwan party secretary Azizul Mondal threatened “a re-run of Singur if the project wasn’t scrapped”.

The CPM denied any role in today’s incident. “It was a mass revolt against those opposing the project,” said Katwa secretary Anjan Chatterjee.

District magistrate Manish Jain, however, said the hearing would continue.