Economist and social activist Prasenjit Bose and eight others were granted bail on Tuesday in connection with cases lodged against them by the Birbhum Police for organizing protests against the proposed Deocha Pachami Coal project.
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“All the nine persons who were arrested on February 20 have been granted bail. There were two FIRs against them and they have been granted bail in both the cases, “ Somnath Mukherjee, a lawyer representing the nine persons said.
Nine persons, which include four from Kolkata and five locals from Md. Bazar, has been booked for unlawful assembly under Section 149 and non-bailable charges of Section 333 of voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant in discharge of his duties of the Indian Penal Code.
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The arrests had triggered protests and organisations not only in Kolkata, but Samyukt Kisan Morcha and Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union demanding release of the activist. Under the banner of “Birbhum Jomi Jeeban Jeevika O Prakiti Bachao Mahasabha” , a protest rally was organised at Md. Bazar on February 20 to demand scrapping of the proposed coal mine from where the nine persons were arrested.
The locals and activists are claiming that there has been “misleading propaganda” that locals are giving up their land willingly.
The West Bengal government has plans to start mining at the Deocha Pachami coal block, considered to be the largest coal block in the country with reserves of around 1,198 million tonnes of coal and 1,400 million cubic metres of basalt spread over an area of 12.31 sq km.
Last month West Bengal revised the relief and rehabilitation (R&R) package for the project which will now cost ₹10,000 crore to the State exchequer. According to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, about 4,300 families will be affected by the project and 1,600 families have agreed to hand over land and accept the R&R package. Ms. Banerjee had handed over the benefits of R&R package to about 213 families in Kolkata last month.