Hazaribag | May 18, 2016: NTPC's coal mining project at Pakri-Barwadih finally took off on Tuesday after 12 years' delay amid protests by land losers.

The project was stalled because the land losers were not happy with the compensation amount. Hazaribag DC Mukesh Kumar said the starting of the project "is the most encouraging thing to happen as far as development is concerned".

The land losers, under the leadership of former minister Yogendra Sao and his MLA wife Nirmala Devi, have been agitating for months at the project site at Pakri Barwadih. This time, when engineers of Triveni Construction Company came for the groundwork, the protesters were not aware. Later, they tried to stop the work, but it was averted by the security force that the district administration had deployed.

In August 2014, protests by displaced families turned violent when the mob tried to enter the NTPC project site. When asked to stop, the demonstrators pelted stones at police who resorted to firing for dispersing the mob. The flare-up left 18 people injured.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)