Police resort to lathicharge, fire teargas shells as tribals’ protest against power project turns violent, 300 booked     

According to sources in GSECL, the PSP project was proposed on the forest department land in various villages including Serula, Old Kulivel, Satkashi, Old Amalpada, Old and Bavli.

On Tuesday, the GSECL officials of Tapi district, accompanied by the Forest department officials, district administrative officials and over 40 police personnel, reached Old Kulivel village for a spot visit.

“A large number of people armed with wooden sticks and stones gathered at Old Kulivel village and stopped us from going to the PSP project site. The police official tried to explain to them that it is an official procedure. They (tribals) said they don’t want the project in their village. The villagers stopped the officials from moving ahead and gheraoed them. They pelted stones at police, who in turn resorted to lathi-charge and lobbed 19 teargas shells to disperse the mob. The situation turned tense and we left the spot without conducting the spot visit,” said Kirti Chaudhary, GSECL officer at Ukai, in the FIR filed with Songadh police station on Tuesday.

“Earlier on May 19 and May 20, we carried out an awareness meeting at Serula village wherein the villagers and sarpanches from Serula, Old Kulivel, Satkashi, Old Amalpada and Old Bavli were present. We explained to the villagers that the project is coming up on forest land and no private land or public land will be acquired. In the meeting, the locals and sarpanches objected to the project,” the FIR said.

Songadh police have registered a case against over 300 people and identified six among them. The accused were booked under BNS section 126 (2) (offence of wrongful restraint), 189 (2,3,4, 5) (Unlawful assembly, armed with deadly weapons, disturbance of public peace), 190 (criminal liability of individuals who are part of an unlawful assembly), 192 (Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 221 (offence of obstructing a public servant in the discharge of their public functions).

The six accused are identified as Ganesh Vasava, Kishan Vasava, Shailesh Vasava, Ishwar Vasava, Nilesh Vasava and Yusuf Gamit, all residents of different villages in Songadh taluka.

Talking to the Indian Express, Tapi district Superintendent of Police Rahul Patel said police detained a few protesters to control the situation and that they were freed later.

“We have got the videos of the incident, and we have identified some of the leaders who incited the tribals. These leaders and those who pelted stones at the police will be arrested soon,” Patel said.

Former Panchayat president and Congress leader Yusuf Gamit, named as one of the accused, said, “The local tribals are against this project. The sarpanch and tribal leader don’t want this project in their village. We will not allow this project to take place. Police had first pushed the tribal leaders, and the tribals got angered and pelted stones at them.”

PSP project

GSECL sources said that the PSP is an off-stream closed-loop project with an installed capacity of 300 MW/1854 MW. The project involves construction of upper and lower reservoirs, designed with gross storage capacities of 5.656 MCM (Million Cubic Meter) and 6.792 MCM, respectively. The upper reservoir will be 57 meters high and the lower reservoir 44 meters.

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