Ranchi: Hundreds of residents of Nagri village marched over 20 km to Morabadi ground on Thursday to protest against the construction of the second campus of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims).
The district administration had put up barricades on roads around the CM’s residence and Morabadi ground as a precautionary measure in view of the protest. Barricades were also put up in Kanke, but the protesters were allowed to march through.
Rims-II will be built over 122 acres in Nagri at a cost of Rs 1,074 crore. The hospital would have 700 beds with 250 for super-speciality besides 100 seats for undergraduate and 50 for postgraduate courses. State govt has barricaded the entire plot with barbed wire.
Villagers are opposing construction on the land claiming it is theirs. Govt, however, has asserted that the plot was acquired from the locals long back.
A participant Aakash Tirkey said, “The constructions of RIMS-II in Nagri would rob at least 2,500 families of livelihood. The govt claims that the land was acquired in 1997 but the receipts were issued to locals till 2011. We had been ploughing the land till three years ago.”
Another protester, Vikas Toppo, said, “We are tribals and our identity is attached to our ancestral land. We have been trying to meet chief minister Hemant Soren to hear his views on the matter.”
The agitation was withdrawn after the administration asked the villagers to submit a memorandum of their demands.
