Bhubaneswar: The Odisha High Court will take up the JSW Steel Project matter on Wednesday.
The HC had send a five-member judicial committee to visit the project site in Dhinkia village under Ersama tehsil.near Paradip Port in Jagatsinghpur district to give a first hand report about the situation on the ground. The HC will take up the committee report on Wednesday.
The HC has sent the committee on the allegations of the villagers opposing the project.
The JSW Steel project proposed to be located on the site abandoned by the South Korean steel maker POSCO is facing resistance from the locals who are.facing displacement due to location of the mega steel plant.
Violent incidents have been witnessed in the project site as pro and anti industrialisation groups in villages clashed over the issue. Even, the HC committee witnessed violent incident during their visit to the project site.
“Dhinkia village which comes under Erasama tehsil fully supports new investments, including JSW’s integrated steel project, in the locality. There is no longer any animosity or hostility among the villagers for anyone else. They stand united in support of the project,” said Nirabhaya Samantaray, a resident of Dhinkia.
Resistance movement leader Debendra Swain and Manas Kar said that the judicial committee report will make it clear whether the local villegers wants this project or not.
Recently, the Jagatsinghpur district collector and magistrate and the superintendent of police visited the village at the request of Dhinkia residents. During their interactions with the villagers, the top officers assured them all suppot under the Odisha government’s resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) policy. They urged the people to maintain peace and brotherhood and sought their cooperation for fruition of the new investments.
Meanwhile several villagers of Dhinkia alleged that some vested interest outsiders are opposing the project.
Villagers like Nirbhaya Samantray, Devdatta Swain, Akshay Behera, Akshay Das, Nityananda Swain, Vivekananda Swain, Nrusingha Raut, Prashant Lenka, Niwas Kandi, Kabindra Gochhayata, Dhaneshwar Das, Hrudananda Raut, Nirbhaya Das and Sishir Sethy claimed that some so-called social workers from outside the region are plotting such a heinous act at the behest of some of the State’s civil sociwty leaders.
