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ST panel orders Odisha collector’s arrest for ignoring summons
It said the official was summoned in March to appear before the panel on April 4 in connection with eight cases
Bhubaneswar: The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes has issued an arrest warrant against the collector of Odisha’s Keonjhar district for ignoring summons for a hearing on violations of tribal rights. It has asked state police chief Sunil Bansal to produce Ashish Thakare, the collector, on Wednesday before the panel as the officer “absconds and keeps out of the way for the purpose of avoiding service of the summons.”
The panel said Thakare was summoned in March to appear before the panel on April 4 in connection with eight cases. It added that Thakare failed to appear and prompted the panel to exercise its powers of a civil court under clause (8) of the Constitution’s Article 338 A to issue his arrest warrant.
Thakare, who did not respond to calls and messages for comment, was summoned in connection with petitions including one by Khageswar Purty.
Purty, who is fighting for the rights of the tribals, has sought employment for them at Keonjhar’s Gandhamardan iron ore mines. He said the mechanisation of Odisha Mining Corporation’s operations there has left tribals unemployed.
In their petition, the local tribals said the truck-loading work was given to a cooperative society in which they were supposed to be members. They alleged they were deprived of work as the administration deliberately kept them away.
The petition said the tribals have also lost their traditional livelihood including the collection of forest produce such as mushrooms due to mining. It added the tribals were also deprived of livelihood from the mining work due to machination.
“Our fertile land and water in wells became poison due to dust and vehicular pollution. The water in our well and pond got polluted by the dust of mines. Due to a high density of blasting in mines, the walls of our mud houses cracked and domestic animals and birds suffered from hearing problems,” the petition said.
Koenjhar, where tribals account for over 45% of the population, has some of Odisha’s biggest iron ore and manganese mines.
A 2013-14 study by researchers at Bhubaneswar’s Utkal University found the water of six streams around Gandhamardan iron ore mines was not fit for domestic consumption. Another study by researchers at Sambalpur University and Government Women’s College (Keonjhar) found rampant cases of respiratory disorders, water-borne diseases, and eye and joint problems linked to mining among residents of the district’s Banspal block.
