Situation under control, says official after clash between police, protesters at power plant in Chhattisgarh

District Magistrate of Janjgir-Champa Jitendra Shukla on Sunday evening informed that the situation is under control, hours after a clash broke out between police and protesters at Madwa power plant in Janjgir district.

A protestor said the contractual workers of the plant are protesting for several days demanding that their services be made permanent.

In light of this incident, DM of Janjgir-Champa said, "As the Disaster Management Act is in force, we informed them that this type of protest is not correct. Many people were stuck inside the factory. So we asked them to protest on the other side, but they did not listen to us."

"We used security measures to disperse the crowd. They pelted stones which affected the situation for some time. The situation is now under control. Some police personnel also got injured in this incident," he said.

Director of Public Relations in Chhattisgarh, in its official release, said, "Protest turned violent when the administration tried to remove protesters from site citing a rise in COVID-19 cases. Police had to use water cannons to remove them as some workers at Madwa plant, who were suffering from high BP and diabetes, had to be evacuated immediately."

"While protesting workers were supposed to talk to the Chairman of Chhattisgarh State Power Company on January 4, some of them demanded that this session be held on Sunday via video conferencing and even after this was arranged, those taking part in stir refused to vacate the area," it added. Police personnel suffered injuries in the incident, the official release said.

The contractual workers of the plant, which is operated by Chhattisgarh State Power Company, have been protesting for the past 28 days demanding their services be made permanent.

( With inputs from ANI )

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