Odisha: Villagers protesting JSW project meet govt officials in major breakthrough

Paradip: Senior Odisha government officials on Sunday held a meeting with residents of Dhinkia village who were protesting against land acquisition for JSW’s mega steel plant project, in a major breakthrough.

Jagatsinghpur District Collector Parul Patwari and Superintendent of Police Akhileshwar Singh were present in the meeting held at the Dhinkia panchayat office in the afternoon.

The locals had blocked the roads that connect the village by digging pits and putting up bamboo barriers, following the violent clash with police on January 14 — the day of Makar Sankranti. Forty villagers and five policemen were injured in the violence.
Normalcy has now returned to the village as the villagers “welcomed the collector and SP”, an official said.

“Though the administration did not fulfill any of the demands of the people, they were assured of positive change in the proposed JSW project sites after the model code of conduct imposed for the panchayat elections is lifted,” the official said.

Among others, the villagers demanded that police cases against locals be withdrawn and further arrests be stopped.

The villagers were represented by Nirbhaya Samantaraya, Akshay Das, Nityananda Swain and Pradeep Shatapathi, among others.