Agitated residents of Bhuli protest against eviction on Saturday. Picture by Gautam Dey

Dhanbad, July 18: The state’s ambitious plan to shift over 4,000 residents of Jharia’s fire zone to Bhuli township within 100 days met with its first serious opposition today when a resident of the Bharat Cocking Coal Ltd’s (BCCL) residential colony tried to immolate himself.

The incident added fuel to widespread protests across the township with a large number of people congregating at the Bhuli township administration (BTA) office, forcing district officials who had come there to serve notices on them to return.

Protesters also put up a roadblock that halted traffic for over half an hour. Later, some students got together and burnt the effigy of the governor’s adviser, T.P. Sinha, and the CMD of BCCL, T.K. Lahiri.

The students, protesting under the banner of the Jharkhand Chhatra Morcha, also threatened to launch an agitation against the eviction drive by staging dharnas at the district collectorate and the BCCL’s Koylabhavan headquarters.

The director (technical) of BCCL, Rakesh Sinha, said the Jharia Rehabilitation Development Authority, which was looking into the scheme, had been provided adequate manpower to deal with any exigencies. “The authority is supposed to take care of all aspects of the eviction. We are merely a part of the entire process,” he said.

It all began around 11.30 am when a Bhuli administration official, accompanied by officials of CISF, arrived at D block, sector I, to serve an eviction notice to Dinesh Yadav (quarter no 81), the son of a retired BCCL employee.

But Dinesh refused to accept the notice, leading to an argument between him and the visiting officials. Soon after, he rushed inside and poured kerosene all over his body. As he tried to light a match, neighbours, who had gathered around him by then, snatched the matchbox from him, thereby saving the day. In the commotion amid frayed tempers, the officials made a hasty retreat and left the house.

By then, a large number of people had gathered in the area and began shouting slogans against BCCL and went to the BTA office in a procession. A dharna was then organised, followed by the burning of effigies.

Reacting to the day’s events, Adinath Pandey of Bhuli Vikash Morcha said the administration was today witness to the first signs of protest. “They should be prepared to see similar reactions in all the houses of Bhuli,” he asked.