A day after villagers protesting Rowghat iron ore mines had clashed with police leading to lathi charge on them at the Narayanpur district collectorate; the Sarv Aadiwasi Samaj – an umbrella organization of tribals – has demanded strict action on the officials responsible.
The organization has also demanded that all the demands of the tribal people be met.
The tribals are demanding the closure of the Rowghat iron ore project. They have alleged that the company engaged in iron ore mining was ‘stealing’ the ore belonging to them (local tribals) as no permission of the Gram Sabha, as required in rules, was taken before starting mining.
Hundreds of tribals from around 22 villages, who had been protesting for the past several days against ‘illegal transport’ of ore from the iron mines, had gathered in Binjali village on Friday and proceeded to the district collector office to press their demands. They were demanding that the district collector personally take their memorandum and allegedly broke through the barricades put up by the police. This led to a clash with the cops present at the spot and consequent lathi charge. Sources said some villagers as well as police personnel were injured.
Later, district collector Rituraj Raghuvanshi came out of his office to meet the protesters and assured them that their demands will be looked into. In their memorandum, addressed to the governor, the villagers have said that Rowghat Hill was their place of worship and they would not allow mining there. Also they said that the mining will destroy the minor forest produce in the area, which is a source of their livelihood.
The Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), which has been allocated the Rowghat mines, had received permission from the Union ministry of environment and forests to mine three lakh tonnes of iron ore per year from the Anjrel area of Rowghat mines falling in Narayanpur district. They were also allowed transport of ore by road.
However, since March 26, villagers had put up a post on the Khodgaon road to stop the transport, saying that it was being done at night in violation of rules. They also called it a theft as the mining project does not have a Gram Sabha approval. Among the villages affected by the Rowghat project are Khodgaon, Kharkagaon, Binjali, Paralbhat, Khairabhat and others.
A day after the incident, the vice-president of Sarv Aadiwasi Samaj, Sarju Tekam, issued a statement condemning what he termed as ‘barbaric violence’ on the protesting tribal people and added that they had all the rights to protect their local resources. The Samaj has demanded that the issues of the tribals be resolved immediately.
The organization has also demanded that the provisions of Forests Rights Act, 2006 and PESA Act, 1996 be strictly implemented, approval of Gram Sabhas concerned be taken without creating any pressure before giving approval to any mining project and that all the mining projects in the scheduled areas of Chhattisgarh should be implemented through government companies with 100 per cent local labour force.
