Odisha’s Sundargarh district on Saturday witnessed a skirmish between villagers and the authorities after hundreds clashed with police demanding additional compensation for their land acquisition for coal mining. They also demanded mining by Vedanta at a coal block allocated to the company be stopped.
Two women of Jamkani village, Jema Gond and Seema Gond, on whose land the bhumi pujan ceremony was being held, barged in with hundreds of displaced villagers but were stopped by 16 platoons of police who resorted to mild lathi-charge to disperse the crowd.
“We not only have lost agricultural income following the acquisition of our lands but have failed to find an alternate source of employment due to delays in mining operations.
