RAIPUR, India, Nov 5 (Reuters) - More than 75,000 tribal
people armed with bows and arrows took to the streets on Monday
in mineral-rich central India to protest over plans to encourage
industrial development in the region, police said.
India has planned hundreds of special economic zones (SEZs)
-- tax-free industrial enclaves -- to boost manufacturing and
export growth and provide jobs, but the issue of land acquisition
has met stiff resistance from villagers.
Monday's rally was called one of the biggest protest marches
of tribal villagers in Chhattisgarh state.
"Indigenous tribals ... will be driven out from their native
lands if the blind industrialisation plan and other schemes of
the state government are carried out," tribal leader Manish
Kunjam told protesters in Jagdalpur, several hours' drive from
the state capital, Raipur.
India's largest steel maker. Tata Steel, as well as Essar
Steel, both plan investments in the region.
In the worst violence over attempts to compulsorily buy
farmland for special economic zones, 14 people were killed in
March when police fired on protesters.
The proposed chemicals project at Nandigram in communist-run
West Bengal was shelved and developers have now found an
alternative site. Villagers said they had not been properly
compensated for their losses.
((Reporting by Sujeet Kumar, writing by Alistair Scrutton;
editing by Roger Crabb; Reuters Messaging:; +91-11-4178-1000))
Keywords: INDIA TRIBALS/PROTEST