(India) -- Farmers of Dugeri village in Mahuva taluka of Bhavnagar district in India were attacked on Tuesday evening to curb their agitation against a 2,500 crore cement plant coming up near Padhiyarka village. The victims were hospitalised in Mahuva, police said.
A police complaint filed by one of the farmers clearly states their involvement in a protest against the cement plant as the reason behind the vicious attacks.
The agitation is being led by BJP's Mahuva MLA Dr Kanu Kalasaria. He said, "We are agitating in non-violent way. But, this is the second time the farmers (agitators) were targeted. In earlier incident, market yard director Pravin Kathiria and Mahuva's BJP leader Vaman Prashad Joshi became victims."
The cement plant in question is being built by Nirma Industries. Farmers from surrounding villages of Padhiyarka are against the construction of the cement plant which will have a production capacity of one million tonne of cement per year.
Earlier, in response to the growing resentment among the farmers, the state government had formed a committee to look into the construction of the new plant. The committee had submitted a clearance report which had led to the state government granting its permission for the commencement of the cement plant.
By: Rashmi Kalia (ARI-C NEWS)