Police foil bid to shut down Nano plant at Sanand

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat police were able to foil an attempt to lock down Tata’s Nano plant at Sanand by OBC, SC, ST Ekta Manch president Alpesh Thakor and his supporters. Thakor and more than 500 agitators were detained near Iyava village on Thursday morning.
The police were cautious not to use force as they had done against farmers demanding fair share of Narmada water earlier this month. The lathicharge on farmers near Nal Sarovar had led to criticism of police action as ‘atrocity’.
Thakor had given the lockdown call demanding equal employment opportunity for local people in the plants established by multi-national companies.From early morning on Thursday, over 1,500 police officers and personnel from various districts had taken position on roads leading to the Tata Nano plant. The plant itself was provided security cover. A company of State Reserve Police (SRP) was deployed along with water canons and teams wearing body armour.
Rajendra Asari, SP, Ahmedabad Rural, said some of the agitators were detained as they did not have prior permission for a rally. “They were released by 4 pm as per rules. No major altercation took place between police and protesters,” he said. Sources said that as the agitators approached the toll booth at Iyava ahead of Sanand, police began to detain vehicles and take them to police headquarters at Makarba. The sarpanchs of a few villages held a counter-protest against the agitators claiming that the industrial projects had actually increased employment in the region and there was no need for a protest.
Thakor, however, alleged that they were “detained like terrorists”.
“Police treated us as if we were there to attack someone,” Thakor told TOI. “We just wanted to intensify our demand of jobs for local youths.” He further said that he would burn a copy of the state budget in front of the assembly in support of ASHA and anganwadi workers.
Thakor also threatened to lead a march to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 8 when he arrives in the state to address a gathering of sarpanchs.