Former Minister and senior Congress leader KN Tripathi has raised questions over land being acquired by the NTPC at Badkagaon, the place that saw the worst kind of bloodshed last week.
Addressing a press conference on the issue on Thursday, after retuning from a trip of Badkagaon Tripathi, besides demanding return of the land acquired to their original raiyats also sought a judicial probe into the firing incident killing at least four local villagers.
“The Government is hell bent to the worst kind of atrocities to the villagers at entire Badkagaon area just for the sake of illegally occupying the raiyati lands. When there is no provision in the land acquisition act to acquire multi-crop land how the NTPC can take that forcefullyIJ This is baffling that the State Government is cheating the people in the name of land acquisition by using sticks and bullets,” said the leader.
He on the occasion held the Government entirely responsible for the Saturday clash which had seen four villagers gunned down, injuring many and local Congress MlA Nirmala Devi going traceless.
“We have not seen such as situation for the sake of land anywhere the country. This is a case of human rights violation of a worst kind. local administration is not caring about rules and regulations at place and just working on the directions of the company and its savior the State Government. Now when the incident has taken place we do not expect any fair probe by Government machinery. Only independent judicial probe can bring the truth out,” said the former Daltonganj MlA. However when asked about credentials of his party leader and former Minister Yogendra Sao, whose dubious role behind the entire controversy is not beyond questioning, Tripathi side step it. “His backgrounds are quite known. Yet, this does not license the police to open fire on unarmed villagers,” he replied.
local reports coming in suggest that Sao had conspired and has been indulged into extortion kind of thing at Badkagaon and was using this tactics to his personal financial gains. Following the incident, Yogender Sao has been arrested by the police for fueling the incident while his MlA wife Nirmala Devi’s whereabouts are still unknown.