Activists and academicians here alleged on Sunday that they were not allowed to visit Dhinkia village, the epicentre of protests against the establishment of a mega steel plant in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district, and meet villagers.
Amidst raging controversy over protesters being subjugated and intimated, activists and academicians had tried to meet Dhinkia’s villagers on Saturday. However, it is alleged that they were waylaid by residents of other villages at the behest of the Jagatsinghpur district administration and the company’s supporters.
The JSW Group, led by industrialist Sajjan Jindal, has proposed to set up a 13.2 mtpa capacity steel plant at an estimated investment of around ₹55,000 crore on the land acquired previously for a South Korean steel major’s unsuccessful steel project.
Residents of Dhinkia have been protesting against the project, stating that it would destroy their vibrant source of livelihood besides causing pollution in the region. On January 14, a violent clash erupted at the project site, when betel vineyards were raged to ground with police backing. Subsequently, while some Dhinkia villagers were arrested, some fled the village fearing police arrest. Armed police have been deployed in Dhinkia and outside the village’s boundary since then.
In one group, winner of the Goldman Environment Award Prafulla Samantara and veteran journalist Rabi Das; and in another group, Vikas Bajpai, Assistant Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU); Sachin N., Associate Professor, Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi, and Pankaj Kumar Mishra, a JNU scholar, had tried to enter Dhinkia on Saturday. However, they were reportedly heckled at the entrance to the village.
“We had gone to meet villagers and find out the ground situation in Dhinkia. However, a group of villagers backed by the district police and the steel company stopped us on our way to Dhinkia. Some even threatened us with violence if we tried to access Dhinkia,” alleged Mr. Samantara at a press conference held here on Sunday.
The academicians’ group said, “We persisted in our efforts to enter the village by stating that we did not have anything to do with the other group; that we were university teachers and researchers from JNU and Delhi University who are engaged with research regarding big development projects and their impact on people’s lives.”
“We were finally allowed to enter with the condition that we shall not stop in the village, and shall not seek to meet any villager. To ensure this, we were accosted by seven men riding motorcycles ahead of and behind our car,” they said.
Academicians added, “The cold brutality embedded in the government’s motivation and insistence on this project is reflected in the little remorse. It is unleashing even more terror and repression on the people than it did in the time of POSCO [South Korean steel company].”
An independent team comprising of leaders from struggling villagers, eminent campaigners of human rights, law, forest rights, agriculture and development affairs must be formed to examine the actions of the administration and police in Dhinkia, they said.
