B4U India: Thousands of Chhattisgarh tribals protest industry plans

Thousands of Chhattisgarh tribals protest industry plans
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reuters india on 05 November, 2007 05:37:00
 
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.