Kolkata, June 17
The venue of the agitation today shifted from Nandigram to Asansol, the colliery town in Burdwan district about 200 kms from here, where the police had to fire several rounds of tear gas shells and resort to lathicharge to disperse an angry mob, mostly women and local CPM workers who had been obstructing the acquiring of lands in Purusattampore for the expansion of the Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO).
As a result of the obstruction, the survey and the land acquiring programme had to be abandoned.
At least 60 people, including women and some police personnel, were injured. Over 300 people, mostly women, were arrested.
Interestingly, it was neither the Trinamool Congress nor the Congress but the CPM which had organised the agitation today against the government's land acquisition at Asansol, where the waves of the Singur and Nandigram land agitations had already reached.
About 2,000 acres of lands will be needed for the IISCO’s expansion and modernisation programme which would cost about Rs 15,000 crore.
According to reports reaching the city, at around 11 am today, the local SDO, accompanied by officials of the Land Revenue Department and the IISCO, went to the Purusattampore village to conduct the survey and accordingly, serve acquisition notices to
the landowners.
But they could not start their work as a result of the resistance from the local people, mainly the CPM, who had already demanded that at least one member of each evicted family should get a job at the factory and also the market price compensation on the land, which the government and the IISCO authorities rejected.
Local CPM MP Bansogopal Chowdhury visited Purusattampore village and talked to the local people but he failed to pursue them to transfer their lands to industries unless there demands were met.
