GAIGHAT, JULY 31
A clash broke out between police personnel and locals over erection of the Solu Corridor 132 KV Transmission Line towers at Katari's Maruwa, Udayapur, yesterday.
The clash erupted after locals tried to obstruct the construction of transmission line towers. Work on the transmission line was obstructed for a long time due to locals' protest.
The construction work resumed with the assistance of police personnel. A few locals were injured in the incident.
Police have nabbed more than half a dozen locals.
Police had used force to disperse locals after the latter obstructed construction of the transmission line towers.
Irate locals shut down Katari bazaar to protest police intervention in a peaceful protest today. Locals from Maruwa had been obstructing the work of the Solu corridor demanding that the towers be shifted to another place saying that the compensation amount was too paltry.
The project resumed work on the transmission line from the last month of the last fiscal year after the local administration deployed a large number of police personnel at the direction of the government.
Earlier, locals had locked the municipality office saying that the project had resumed work forcefully.
Solu Corridor Dispute Solution Committee had held talks with home and energy ministers and reported to them about the dispute. Coordinator KP Baral said that the local administration had used force despite ministers' assurance that the problem would be resolved. Ten towers are to be erected on the disputed land. Of them, six have already been built.
Udayapur CDO Tulashiram Sedhai said that locals had obstructed work to erect the remaining four towers. "The work will not stop as it has resumed at the government's directive," added CDO Sedhai.
Solu Corridor Project, however, claimed that some people unaffected by the project had incited locals to obstruct work.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 1 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
