Daltonganj: A herd of wild elephants destroyed the boundary wall of Jharkhand Refractories in Balumath block in Latehar district. The elephants destroyed several sections of the wall at night.

The owner of the Jharkhand Refractories Gopal Singh said, “We had a boundary wall surrounding 5 acre-radius of the factory where we prepare fire bricks.

The elephants broke it in patches. At one place they damaged around a stretch of 40 feet and at another around 20,15 feet.

The incident has made the owner incur a loss worth Rs 200000.

He submitted a written complaint cum request for a compensation to the DFO Latehar Roshan Kumar.

Forester Leyaqat said that he is aware of the destruction caused by the elephants.

He said he would prepare a report once he resumes work.

According to Singh, the elephants made two inroads into his Refractories in the past four or five days.

Our Correspondent

Banadag: Villagers and police personnel clash at coal siding

Police guards at the Hazaribagh siding on Sunday. Vishvendu Jaipuriar

Hazaribagh: A clash broke out between hundreds of villagers and security personnel in Banadag coal siding, which falls under Katkamdag block. The incident left around 18 raiyats and a few policemen injured. The Raiyats in Banadag are against the coal siding which they claim is damaging the ambiance of the area and their cultivable fields. The villagers had been agitating for the past five days. They have charged Hazaribagh sadar MLA of BJP for running this siding and ignoring their problem, who has denied this allegation.

BJP rivals including leaders of Congress, JMM and others backed this agitation that is disrupting coal transportation from this siding. As a consequence, 21-coal projects are getting supply of coal from Pankri Barwadih coal project of Barkagaon resulting in loss of RS.28.80crore to NTPC and around Rs.7crore to railways.

Yesterday, well known Congress leader Munna Singh was arrested on charges of instigating the agitation and halting transportation. Sensing trouble, a huge team of police was sent with magistrates trying to convince villagers to end the agitation. But as police tried to apply force to call off the agitation, angry villagers began to pelt stones.

Barkagaon Congress MLA Amba Prasad reached the spot and tried pacifying villagers. Till the report was being written around 150 agitators were present, stating that they would continue to protest till their demands are met.

Vishvendu Jaipuriar