Ranchi: High drama unfolded in Nagdi, Kanke, as hundreds of farmers and tribal villagers stormed the proposed RIMS-2 medical campus site despite prohibitory orders. Wearing masks of Dishom Guru Shibu Soren, they ploughed fields and planted saplings under the banner of the “Khet Joto Abhiyan”.
Police, deployed in large numbers, fired tear gas shells to disperse the agitators but the crowd held its ground. Villagers from Latehar, Lohardaga, Hatma, Bijupada and Bedon joined the protest, calling the land acquisition a direct assault on Adivasi rights.
Led by Champa Kujur of Sarna Prarthana Sabha, protesters alleged police excesses and vowed to continue resistance until the project is shifted.
The row centres on the government’s plan to build a second RIMS campus on fertile agricultural land. Former CM and BJP leader Champai Soren—placed under house arrest hours before the agitation—has demanded relocation of the project to government land near the Smart City area. Calling his detention “undemocratic,” he accused the government of bypassing the Land Acquisition Act and CNT Act.
While the BJP blasted the move as “dictatorship,” Congress defended the administration, citing law and order concerns. Prohibitory orders under Section 163 of BNSS remain in force around the site.
The Nagdi flashpoint has once again reignited Jharkhand’s most sensitive debate—development versus tribal land rights.
Meanwhile, President of Moolvasi Sadan Morcha Rajendra Prasad condemned the firing of tear gas shells on the protesters opposing RIMS-2.
