Ranchi, July 17 : Social activist Swami Agnivesh was attacked and beaten up by suspected supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha (BJYM) in Jharkhand's Pakur district on Tuesday, leaving him shaken.

Police said the 78-year-old was attacked when he was going to participate in the 195th Damin Mahotsav at Littpara. The incident occurred just when he stepped out of his hotel.

The attackers first shouted slogans and showed black flags and later thrashed him even as he fell on the ground and his aides did their best to protect him.

The police detained 20 of the attackers.

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Guwahati(PTI): Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday said he would soon visit tea gardens, owned by public sector enterprise Andrew Yule, to revive its estates as workers are facing immense hardship.

Kumaraswamy, the minister of steel and heavy industries, thanked Assam Industries Minister Bimal Borah for apprising him of various challenges being faced by the tea gardens and the need to support the management to alleviate suffering of workers.

"We are concerned about the economic challenges and hardship of the tea gardens owned by Andrew Yule Group in Assam and its impact on the wage earners," Kumaraswamy said at a press conference here.

The tea garden wage earners will also get a 20 per cent Durga Puja bonus, like workers of other gardens, he said.

Referring to his recent visit to the Cement Corporation of India Ltd factory at Bokajan in Karbi Anglong district, Kumaraswamy said there was a plan for the revival of the cement industry in the state by investing Rs 700 crore.

He also emphasised on the need for a cement manufacturing unit in the northeastern states.

On the current development of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) policy utilisation in Assam, the union minister said more than Rs 2,000 crore would be invested for battery charging stations and nearly 70,000 such facilities will be set up across the country.

More than 18,000 e-buses will also be purchased to fulfil the goal of carbon emission reduction, Kumaraswamy added.