Commissioner Lal, present at the spot, said: “The protest was a clear violation of public peace and law and order. So they had to be removed. No formal arrests were made.” He said police lathi-charge was “minor” and “inevitable”.

Claiming that Janhit Congress is “not opposed to SEZ, Daima said, “They should be constructed on unfertile land, not land where people are farming.”

When told that the government claims farmers had willingly sold land two years ago, Daima said, “That may or may not be the case, but our objection is that land was acquired at a much lower rate than the present market price. It was meant for development projects but was handed over to a private company.”

Trying to make a national debate on the SEZ buildup, ex-Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi said “The government has conned these poor farmers for own profit. There are many discrepancies in the 2006 agreement on the basis of which land was acquired.”