Villagers clash with police at steel plant site in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur

Jagatsinghpur Superintendent of Police Akhileswar Singh said police personnel were attacked by villagers and eventually used mild force to disperse them.

Updated on: Jan 15, 2022, 09:27:08 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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Bhubaneswar: Around two dozen villagers including women and teenagers protesting the proposed steel plant by JSW Steel at Dhinkia village of Jagatsinghpur district were injured after police resorted to lathi charge to disperse them.

Jagatsinghpur police said there was no forceful acquisition of betel vines in the proposed plant site as villagers have accepted compensation for them (Screengrab/ANI video)

Police said Debendra Swain, a former member of the panchayat samiti spearheading the protest against the project, was arrested along with two others as he led a group of armed miscreants to attack the police and government officials.

Jagatsinghpur SP Akhileswar Singh said police had to act as the villagers started throwing urine on them and some even attacked the police with razors. “We had to do mild lathi charge to disperse the villagers. At least 7 policemen have been injured in the scuffle,” said Singh.

As many as 15 platoons (450 personnel) of police were deployed in Dhinkia area in view of the prevailing situation, news agency PTI said, quoting a local official said.

Prashant Paikray, spokesperson of the Jindal Pratirodh Bheetamati Suraksha Samiti, the organisation protesting the steel plant in the area, alleged police personnel assaulted people when they tried to stop the cops from entering the village to demolish the betel vine plantations.

Erasama Tehsildar PN Das, said the villagers had given consent to acquire their betel vines following which the administration demolished them.There is no illegality, he claimed, according to PTI.

“When the villagers tried to stop the police from entering Dhinkia, police charged them with batons sparing none, not even women and children. Many villagers have received serious injuries,” said Paikray.

The villagers alleged that the demolition drive was arbitrary and designed to expedite land acquisition for the JSW project. “I joined the protest against the demolition drive of our betel vine. But police beat us up mercilessly,” alleged an old woman.

In 2017, JSW Utkal Steel Limited, led by industrialist Sajjan Jindal, proposed to set up a 13.2 million tonnes per annum integrated steel plant at the same site that was initially allocated to Korean steel major Posco more than a decade ago. The Korean company, which signed a pact with Odisha government, dropped out in 2017.

The new steel plant by JSW in Jagatsighpur is expected to be connected with the company’s proposed 30 MTPA iron-ore grinding plant in Keonjhar district via a 312 km-long slurry pipeline.

A 52 MTPA captive jetty located near the mouth of Jatadhar river will also cater to the import and export requirements of the company. But ever since the company signed up for setting the steel plant, it is facing similar protests in Dhinkia who say they did not want the project.

Earlier on December 20 last year, tension prevailed in the village following a violent face-off between the villagers and the police. The villagers opposed the administration’s move to demarcate the boundary of the village which forms part of the project site of JSW. Since January 1, an uneasy calm prevailed in the area as the people of Dhinkia installed bamboo gates at the entrance of the village.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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