Tribals to congregate in Orrisa to mark killings

An estimated 50,000 tribals from different states are likely to attend the congregation named 'Adivasi Mahameli' on Jan 2.

Tribals have planned a massive congregation in Orissa's Kalinga Nagar on January 2 to mark the first anniversary of the deaths of 13 from their community killed in police firing there.

HT Image

An estimated 50,000 tribals from different parts of the state as well as from Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal are likely to attend the congregation named 'Adivasi Mahameli'.

The 13, including three women, were killed at Kalinga Nagar when over 500 people facing eviction due to a Tata Steel project clashed with the police at the industrial complex in Jajpur distrct, 100 km from Bhubaneswar.

"We have already started construction of a 70-feet-high memorial pillar at Ambagadia village where all the 13 victims were mass cremated," tribal leader Chakradhar Haiburu told IANS.

Haiburu, president of Vistapan Virodhi Janmanch, an umbrella outfit of tribals involved in the anti-Tata movement since the killings, said memory pillars for the 13 "martyrs" would be constructed with their names inscribed on them.

The tribal people would also pour oil on all the 13 stones in line with tribal rituals.

"We have invited eminent personalities like Medha Patkar, Mahashweta Devi and some tribal leaders," he said.