Paradip (Odisha), Mar 5 (PTI) An Orissa High Court-appointed lawyers’ committee on Saturday heard the grievances of the people of Dhinkia village in Jagatsinghpur district, which had witnessed pitched battles between security forces and locals around two months back over land acquisition for JSW’s mega steel project.
More than 1,000 villagers participated in the meeting, in which panel members and the district administration were present. Over 100 people put forth their opinions in front of the panel.
Even as many residents of Dhinkia village gave their opinions supporting the JSW project, opponents claimed that many others opposing the project were denied entry to the meeting.
“We have been informed that some people opposed to the project were denied entry to the meeting place. It is also alleged that journalists were not allowed into the meeting venue. There was no such instruction from the High Court to deny the presence of media in the meeting,” Prashant Jena, one of the lawyers, told reporters.
However, Jagatsinghpur Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Singh said that the district administration organised the meeting officially, and therefore, media was allowed to take photographs and videos.
Jagatsinghpur district magistrate cum collector Parul Patwari said that the report of the meeting will be submitted to the authorities concerned.
The Jindal Steel Works (JSW) has proposed a 12-million-tonne-per-annum facility, 900 MW power plant and a captive port on 3,000 acres of land at an estimated cost of over Rs 50,000 crore.
The erstwhile Posco site near the port town of Paradip was chosen by the administration for the JSW plant as the South Korean giant had withdrawn its plan to set up a mega steel project.
The Orissa High Court had ordered the advocates to visit Dhinkia on February 19 and file a joint report. It was hearing a set of petitions on the alleged police excess on January 14 in which 40 villagers and five security personnel were injured.
When the panel visited the site on February 19, supporters and opponents of the project clashed in the presence of police.
The high court-constituted panel has lawyers Prasant Kumar Jena, Omkar Devdas, Sukanta K Dalei, Debakanta Mohanty and J Katkia.
Jena conveyed to the district collector that all the petitioners from the village were present in the meeting.
This apart, Khirod Rout, Kuni Mallick, Pratap Samantray and others who had filed PIL in the High Court, were present at the meeting. PTI COR HMB AAM ACD ACD
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