Keonjhar: Police resorted to baton charge on hundreds of tribal people seeking railway jobs near Gohaldihi railway siding under Sadar police station Friday. As many as ten protesters were injured after the police resorted to using force.
The agitators had blocked Guhaldihi railway station road and were protesting demanding employment by Indian Railways.
Sources said, hundreds of poor tribal villagers had lost their lands to Gohaldihi railway siding project. At that time they were promised of loading and unloading jobs in the Railways. While the promise was not kept, repeated reminders of the villagers on this context also fell on deaf ears.
Finding no other option, villagers staged a protest Friday by blocking the Guhaldihi railway station road and detaining mineral loaded trucks going towards the station.
“Due to the railway siding project we lost our land. As the administration is not listening to any of our demand, we protested peacefully by following social distancing norms. Instead of solving our issue, police baton-charged on us leaving more than ten of us injured”, said a local resident Babuli Murmu.
The villagers demanded a high-level probe and legal action against the involved police personnel.
That said, local police denied baton charge. Jayanarayan Khandei, Sadar PS IIC said, “The villagers had blocked the road illegally. The blockade was cleared based on mutual understanding reached between the villagers and police.”
