SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Aug 4: The district administration on Wednesday imposed Section 144 at Maithon Power Limited (MPL) Nirsa, around 55 km away from here, to clear three days old indefinite gherao of the power plant by a section of labours.
Dhanbad SDM Surendra Kumar, who reached the spot with heavy police forces from the district headquarters got agitators removed from the plant gate forcibly. Though agitators had put up women labourers in front, police chased them away using force.
The SDM said that Section 144 has been imposed as agitators had not only stopped entry and exit of the power plant officers and workers but also assaulted police officers and the magistrate deployed on the spot.
“ Now no dharna and agitation would be held here for two months,” he said.
The SDM said a section of labours had been staging dharna at the MPL gate since Monday in protest against the digital access control system for entry into the plant. Though 90% of them accepted, only 10% refused to use it and said they would accept it only after the management increased the salary of all the workers.
MPL is a joint venture of Tata Power ( 74%) and Damodar Valley Corporation (26%), the first public-private power plant of the country generating 1050 MW power per day.
Following the blockade of the power plant gate by some workers, which had entered the third day on Wednesday, power generation in MPL was at stake as the supply of coal in the plant and dispatch of ash were totally stopped.
On Tuesday, police had to use mild lathi-charge when agitating labours assaulted magistrate Santosh Kumar when the administration got MPL officials to enter the plant. However, Nirsa block development officer (BDO) Vikash Kumar Roy, and SDPO Pitamber Singh Kherbar reached the spot with heavy police forces and controlled the situation.
The MPL management said the Digital Access Control System ( gate pass) is enforced across the country. Regular agitation would impact the health of the power plant in the long term.
Meanwhile, labour leaders, former Nirsa MLA Arup Chatterji and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) said the MPL management has suppressed the demand of labours with help from the district administration but agitation would continue for the demand.
