Alertness of the district administration and incessant rain put cold waters on the much propagated protest march of the Opposition leaders against the land acquisition by NTPC coal projects on Thursday.
Police detained JVM chief Babulal Marandi, MlAs Nirmala Devi, Pradeep Yadav, ex-MlA loknath Mahto, president of Bharatiya Suraj Dal PK Siddharth, RJD president Gautam Sagar Rana and others from the entry point of Chirudih and langatu mines area of NTPC and released them in the evening in Padma.
As per their plan, the leaders supporting the ongoing agitation against NTPC projects reached the block headquarters around 12 noon. Former Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay gave the march a miss. At about 2 pm, the leaders marched towards NTPC mining sites with their supporters numbering around 200.
The District administration and police have been on alert as the leaders had announced to stop the mining work. Section 144 was already imposed there and heavy police force deployed in the entire area. As the march reached near the entry gate, officials first tried to send them back. When the leaders refused to budge, they were detained and sent to Padma on NH-33 between Hazaribagh and Barhi. They were kept in the police training centre campus there and in the evening were released.
At a press conference, Sahay denounced the act of administration to stop and detain the agitators, calling it against the will of the people. He said that the united Opposition will launch a State-level protest against the BJP Government for suppressing the voice of poor people.
Sahay also attacked senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha and his son MoS Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha for backing big industries. He said that his party will go to villages to make people aware of the real intensions of the BJP Government.