Villagers oppose proposed Arcelor Mittal plant in Jharkhand

Banai Toli (Jharkhand), June 7(ANI): Villagers in Jharkhand's Khuti and Gumla districts have turned an agitated lot over the plans to set up a steel plant by multinational steel giant Arcelor Mittal.

Arcelor Mittal has identified 11,000 acres of land overlapping the districts of Khuti and Gumla to set up a 12 million tonne steel plant.

"If the company acquires our land, we would die struggling for it. We will further lose our identity, society religion and our natural resources," said Labda Topno, Pradhan of Banai Toli village.

Dayamani Barla, Convenor of the Anti-Displacement Forum has alleged that the Government's Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Mittal will displace hundreds of thousands of villagers from the region comprising over 40 villages, located in and around the proposed project.

Barla also mentioned about the natural resources in the region being adversely affected, there would be a threat to the evergreen environment.

"This fight is to save the environment and the villagers' life. There are water resources here on which Mittal's steel plant is going to come up and he would be acquiring all rights on it which are against the local people's interests and livelihood of thousands of families," said Dayamani Barla. (ANI)