After assurances by minister, protesters climb down from power plant chimney

The protesters had perched themselves on the gallery, located at the 140-metre level of the chimney, and had reportedly gone without food for days.

“Wadettiwar assured them that a meeting would be convened with state Energy Minister Nitin Raut to address their demands. Following this, they agreed to come down,” said CSTPS Chief Engineer Raju Ghuge. “They are all in fine health,” he added.

The protesters are among nearly 650 persons working with Mahagenco under provisions for project evacuees. Most of them get a subsistence allowance of about Rs 16,000 per month for the work offered by Mahagenco.

The earlier generation of project-affected persons were given nearly 2,800 permanent jobs, according to Mahagenco.