PARADIP: Villagers staged a sit-in for the second consecutive day on Wednesday at Gadakujang panchayat even as barricades were erected to prevent officials from entering the Posco project site. The situation though tense is under control. “Forces have been rushed to the troubled site,” said a senior police officer.Meanwhile, district administration officials led by Project Director (Rehabilitation and Resettlement) Surjeet Das reached the spot with police personnel to pacify the villagers protesting under the banner of Kunjabihari Gramya Surkhya Committee. The agitators, however, refused to call off their stir till their seven demands are fulfilled despite an assurance from the officials that the issues would be taken up in the August 24 RPDAC meeting.Earlier in the day, they stalled demarcation and other construction work at Polang.The agitation has hampered construction of boundary wall, rehabilitation colony and sand-levelling at Polang and Noliashai villages under the panchayat.Sarpanch of Gadakujang Nakula Sahu said pro-Posco activists had erected barricades with the help of Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti members to protest the Posco project following delay in fulfillment of their demands. Efforts are on to convince them to withdraw the agitation, he added.Kujang Tehsildar Basudev Pradhan said the agitators had been given an ultimatum to call off the stir by Wednesday evening, following which they would be evicted forcibly. “We requested them to postpone their agitation by a week till the issues are resolved at the RPDAC meeting but irate villagers refused to budge,” he added.
Comments
0 comment