Expulsion : affrontement à Gobindpura (ਮਾਨਸਾ ਜ਼ਿਲਾ Mansa district, ਪੰਜਾਬ Penjab) – 2 août 2011

One dead, 30 injured in clashes over land

Hindustan Times

Mansa, August 02, 2011

A farmer was killed and more than 30 persons were injured on Tuesday in clashes between the police and farmers’ groups opposing land acquisition for a power project in Gobindpura village in Punjab’s Mansa district. The stir against land acquisition for Gobindpura Thermal Plant took

a violent turn after members of 17 farmer labour unions tried to march to the village from neighbouring Barnala district.

The farmers had earlier given a call to pull down barbed wires and reclaim land taken for the project. The farmers are up in arms against 166 acres being “forcibly” acquired by the administration for the project.

Earlier in the day, despite large-scale arrests and numerous checkpoints, about 1,500 farmers managed to gather at Kot Dunna village of Barnala district sharing border with Mansa, a southern district about 200 km from state capital Chandigarh.

Police stopped the farmers and surrounded them on the main Bhikhi-Dhanaula road around 4pm. Trouble erupted when the farmers tried to break the police cordon to reach Gobindpura.

Police baton-charged the farmers and fired tear-gas shells. The farmers tried to fight back, but were overpowered.

Surjeet Singh, 65, a farmer from Hameedi village of Barnala district was found dead in the fields after the clash, while more than 30 farmers were injured. Police claimed four of its personnel were also injured. Read more…

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Informations

Mansa district (Doabi:ਮਾਨਸਾ ਜ਼ਿਲਾ) is situated in Punjab, India. The main town is Mansa. It was formed on 13 April 1992 from the erstwhile Bathinda district. The district has an area of 2174 km² and a population of 688,630 (2001 census), with a population density of 317 persons per km². The district is roughly triangular in shape, and is bounded on the northwest by Bathinda district, on the northeast by Sangrur district, and on the south by Haryana state. The district is divided into three tehsils, Budhlada, Mansa, and Sardulgarh. The Ghaggar River flows through Sardulgarh tehsil in the southwestern corner of the district. It is situated on the rail line between Bathinda-Jind-Delhi section and also situated on the Barnala-Sardulgarh-Sirsa road. The population is Punjabi-speaking and is wedded to the culture of the Malwa belt of Punjab.