Ramgarh, Aug. 30: " Humein vikas chahiye, par dekhiye kya mila. Purkho ki zamin di aur mili goli (We want development. See what we got instead. We gave away our ancestral land and got bullets in return)," a villager recounted the police firing in Gola block, 22km from the district headquarters, last evening.
Antipathy for the men in khaki was the overriding sentiment here today when the two-member inquiry committee of Hazaribagh divisional commissioner Pradeep Kumar and DIG Upendra Kumar reached Gola amid tight police bandobast and spoke to villagers. The latter demanded a judicial probe against Ramgarh SP M. Tamilvanan and the officers-in-charge of Gola and Rajrappa thanas for firing on "peaceful protest".
Both the divisional commissioner and DIG remained tight-lipped on their findings and said they would submit a report to the chief minister's office within the stipulated deadline of a week.
Inland Power, a Calcutta-based company, acquired around 120 acres in Tonagatu village of Gola and pumped in Rs 350 crore to commission a power plant of 63MW capacity in May 2014. A second plant of equal capacity is expected to come up on the same premises by next year, with the total investment soaring to Rs 650 crore.
While company officials boast that power from the operational plant goes to the Namkum grid to light up VIP homes in state capital Ranchi, people of Tonagatu and its neighbouring Sonagatu and Bariatu villages rue life without basic amenities.
"We were promised jobs in lieu of land. The company had also said it would develop our villages under CSR programmes. Not much has changed in Gola in the past couple of years. Some youths got jobs in the company, but without security. They are casual workers," said a resident of Sonagatu, not willing to be named in the wake of police firing.
Rajiv Jaiswal (28), a former Ajsu Party leader who now swears allegiance to JVM chief Babulal Marandi, said he spearheaded an outfit, Nagrik Chetna Manch, to help villagers fight against injustice.
Jaiswal, who is accused of instigating a mob into stone-pelting at police yesterday, said the action taken against protesters was reminiscent of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre under British rule. "What police did in Gola was barbaric to say the least," said the Manch convener, an MBA from Nagpur and currently studying law under Vinoba Bhave University.
On police claims that they fired on protesters after the latter started shooting at the force, Jaiswal said he had a licensed rifle but all that villagers did yesterday was disconnect water supply to the power plant. " Kya apna adhikar mangna gairkanuni hai (Is it illegal to fight for one's rights)? I am ready to hand over my rifle for verification."
Jaiswal maintained that they wanted a judicial probe and FIR against SP Tamilvanan and OCs Sanjay Kumar (Gola) and Munna Singh (Rajrappa). "Former chief minister Hemant Soren will come to Gola tomorrow. We will raise the isse," he added.
SP Tamilvanan denied allegations of deliberate firing on a peaceful protest, saying at least 30 policemen were injured in stone-pelting before the force retaliated. "Adequate bandobast has been made in Gola. The situation is now under control," the SP said.
Meanwhile, several political party members including Congress legislative party leader Alamgir Alam and state president Sukhdeo Bhagat met villagers in Gola. Bhagat took a jibe at the chief minister, saying it was not "Raghu raj", but "Ravan raj" in the state.
In Hazaribagh, JVM's Poreyahat MLA Pradeep Yadav too criticised the government. "We demand a probe by an independent agency and Rs 50 lakh as compensation for dependants of the victims," Yadav said, hinting at Marandi's visit to Gola tomorrow.
Hemant and former deputy chief minister Sudesh Mahto met the injured at RIMS today.
