Raipur: Amid deep Corona crisis, State Administration permitted controversial public hearing for environmental clearance in two places of Chhattisgarh on Monday which met public fury. The hearing was aborted as the government and company officials were driven away including a Congress MLA.
One public hearing was scheduled in naxal affected Bastar and second in Sarguja’s Mainpat- an eco-sensitive Zone.
Actually, a public hearing for environmental clearance for the proposed iron-ore sponge power plant was going on in Bastar’s Kakrighat Chapka village, said SP Bastar Deepak Jha.
People gathered for the public hearing were angry about some unfulfilled promises made by the company and they wanted to fulfill the promises in writing.
As the officers failed to pacify their demands, somehow the gathered public turned into an angry mob and chased away the environment department team including the local MLA Chandan Kashyap, the officer said.
They pelted stones on the convoy but the MLA remained unhurt. After it they blocked the road for an hour and all the public returned, said the SP.
Meanwhile, another such incident was reported in Mainpat of Surguja district, where villagers also disrupted the proceedings of public hearing held for the establishment of Maa Kudargadhi Alumina refinery and chased away the environmental department team including the administrative officers.
Environmental activist Alok Shukla of Chhattisgarh Bacho Andolan said, it is unfortunate at the time when people are living under threat of Corona infection, feeling incapable to save their lives, the government wants to dislodge the public from their homes and make them homeless. It is pathetic, the government must rethink it.
It is the public which voted the Congress government into power after a long exile of 15 years, Shukla said.
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