Industrialists across Jharkhand are up in arms following the attack on the staff of Bhushan Steel and Power Limited (BSPL). The Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FJCCI) has decided to hold a demonstration outside the Raj Bhawan here on Monday.

“Unless the guilty are arrested, we will boycott the Udyog Mela beginning November 15. We will also appeal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to intervene and protect the interests of the investors in the state,” said FJCCI president Manoj Naredi.

FJCCI took the decision to stage an agitation after BSPL’s director H C Verma met its office-bearers on Friday. Verma alleged that the attack by the ruling JMM party workers was a calculated move to pressurise the company to have them as middlemen during the purchase of land for the plant to be set up by the company. BSPL has threatened to call off plans to invest in Jharkhand unless the accused are arrested.

The two FIRs filed on Thursday said JMM workers had beaten up BSPL staff in Potka block of East Singhbhum district where the company is planning to set up its three-million tonne capacity steel plant and 900 MW thermal power plant. The company plans to invest Rs 10,500 crore for the plant.

To set up the plant, the company had purchased 900 acres of land and submitted an application to the office of the Deputy Commissioner for more land. It had also hired a Surveyor and Allied Engineering (SAE) to survey the land. When two SAE staff, Nazbul Ahmed and Sahdeo Singh, and BSPL’s manager Sheetal Bhardawaz, were surveying a land in Potka, 200 JMM workers beat them up and held them captive for a day. “We were abused, tied and paraded in the village,” said Bhardawaz in his FIR naming 18 accused. Although the police have taken cognizance of his complaint, none of the accused has been arrested.