Dhinkia people not to allow demolition drive further

BHUBANESWAR: The villagers of trouble torn Dhinkia area in Jagatsinghpur district would not allow any further demolition in their area on the coming days, if the State Government begins land acquisition process for the Posco Company after the end of the Assembly session on April 6.

From Friday onwards, more than 200 women of Gobindpur village are continuing daily peaceful protest and shouting slogans opposing undemocratic moves of the Government and Posco in their village. The villagers are preparing for a mass protest apprehending a police crackdown after the end of the budget session in the Assembly.

Meanwhile, the villagers re-erected bamboo and wooden barricades at Gobindpur, Patana, Dhinkia and Trilochanpur villages under Jagatsinghpur’s Dhinkia gram panchayat to prevent officials and police from entering the proposed Posco plant site.

Women leader Manorama Khatua said that now they could go to any extent to ensure stopping of the project on their fertile land. She also said that the women would henceforth guard the entry gate to Dhinkia area with their male counterparts to ensure no more demolition of betel vines takes place. “Our people are hell bent on opposing any move of the authorities to enter Gobindpur,” said Khatua.

According to Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) spokesperson Prashant Paikaray, presence of policemen was a cause of tension for women and girls at Gobindpur village. The State Government has resorted to unethical tactics of jailing and lathicharging the protesters regularly, he added. “As women and children are at the forefront of the movement, regular lathicharge on women and children by paramilitary has become a norm,” Paikaray said.

Paikray continued, “Over last 2 months though the administration declared that land acquisition would not happen ‘by coercion’, this region has just become a site littered with paramilitary camps with more than 12 paramilitary platoons. The constant presence of paramilitary in the area right inside the villages is worrisome and unacceptable in a democratic polity.”

PPSS demanded immediate withdrawal of policemen from Gobindpur village. “We have also decided to launch hunger-strike from April 3, if the State Government does not withdraw the force,” the women members added.