Thousands of Chhattisgarh tribals protest industry plans

RAIPUR, India (Reuters) - More than 75,000 tribal people armed with bows and arrows took to the streets on Monday in mineral-rich Chhattisgarh to protest over plans to encourage industrial development in the region, police said.

India has planned hundreds of special economic zones (SEZs) -- tax-free industrial enclaves -- to boost manufacturing and export growth and provide jobs, but the issue of land acquisition has met stiff resistance from villagers.

Monday's rally was called one of the biggest protest marches of tribal villagers in Chhattisgarh.

"Indigenous tribals ... will be driven out from their native lands if the blind industrialisation plan and other schemes of the state government are carried out," tribal leader Manish Kunjam told protesters in Jagdalpur, several hours' drive from the state capital, Raipur.

India's largest steel maker Tata Steel, as well as Essar Steel, both plan investments in the region.

In the worst violence over attempts to compulsorily buy farmland for special economic zones, 14 people were killed in March when police fired on protesters.

The proposed chemicals project at Nandigram in communist-run West Bengal was shelved and developers have now found an alternative site. Villagers said they had not been properly compensated for their losses.