The sandy lanes of Dhinkia and nearby villages are once again ringing with protest screams, this time against JSW Utkal Steel Ltd (JUSL proposed )’s project in Odisha’s coastal Jagatsinghpur district. While residents of Dhinkia, Nuagaon, Gobindpur, and Noliyasahi in Ersama tehsil struggled for a decade to evict POSCO, the South Korean global steel giant that withdrew in 2017, the land obtained for the project was given to Jindal for its proposed integrated steel plant.
Locals who fought POSCO for a decade are now fighting Jindal’s proposed integrated steel factory on the same property.
JUSL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of JSW that plans to build a Rs 65,000 crore integrated steel factory with a 900 MW captive power plant and a 10 MTPA cement grinding and mixing unit. The project’s iron ore will be delivered by a slurry pipeline from a proposed 30 MTPA iron ore grinding and de-sliming plant in Odisha’s Keonjhar district. It also intends to construct 52 MTPA captive jetties adjacent to the facility on the right side of the Jatadhar river. Dhinkia, Gobindpur, Nuagaon, Polanga, Bayanala, and Jatadhar are among the villages impacted.
The project has yet to get environmental approval, and on December 12, 2021, a fourth proposal was submitted to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
The POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (Anti-POSCO Campaign), now known as the Jindal Pratirodh Bheetamati Suraksha Samiti, has returned to defend the villages against police entrance, as it did previously. The Samiti’s spokesperson, Prashant Paikray, told The News Reporter over the phone that the protests started in Dhinkia on December 4, when police arrived late at night in the middle of a raging cyclone to arrest Samiti leader Debendra Swain.
“They tried to break into Swain’s house and destroyed the front door. “When they couldn’t find Swain, his uncle Ayodhya and his daughter Lili were detained,” he claimed.
Villagers are being harassed in numerous ways, according to Paikray, for demonstrating against the facility. Swain, a member of the Dhinkia panchayat, was subjected to disciplinary action by the Odisha panchayat raj department, which issued him a show-cause notice. Swain stated that he would be unable to attend a hearing, and on December 8, 2021, he was informed that he had been removed from the panchayat.
Dhinkia residents have been blocking the entry of the hamlet since December 5, which has been divided into three new tax villages: Dhinkia, Mahala, and Patana. The villages affected by the JUSL project erected bamboo gates and refused to allow the police, government officials, and JSW workers through, using methods identical to those used against POSCO.
Since there have been protests against a road being built in Patana, the police have been stationed there for a few months. According to Akhileshvar Singh, the superintendent of police in Jagatsinghpur, the police have set up camps with three platoons from December 10. On the night of December 4, a resident of Patana named Prabhat Rout reported two explosives being hurled into his home, according to Singh. On its route to the area, the police team investigating was attacked.
Two platoons were despatched to Dhinkia after reinforcements were called in, but they were attacked as well, with a lot of stone-throwing – so the police returned, as they were unprepared for such an event, he claimed, adding that some officers were injured. After that, the villagers built three gates through which no one may enter the communities. He claimed that police camps had been put up to ensure that no other unfortunate acts occurred.
According to Singh, no arrests have been made in the bomb blast case, despite the fact that the alleged perpetrators have sought asylum in Dhinkia.
The News Reporter has sent the corporation a list of inquiries, but no response has yet been received.
According to legal activist Sarita Barpanda, the police have filed new charges and detained 11 people in the last two months. The high court granted anticipatory bail to 104 males and 29 women from the project area who were accused of various offenses last Friday. During the anti-POSCO protests, nearly 1,000 cases were brought against the agitators, and many of them are still facing non-bailable warrants.
She further said that the police apprehended Dhinkia resident Sasmita Malik and her eleven-year-old daughter when they were working in their betel vine plot. Malik was imprisoned while her daughter was taken to the Child Welfare Centre, which she claimed was a complete breach of their rights.
Communities in Dhinkia are also opposing the construction of two new revenue villages, Mahala and Patana, which were carved out of the old village and were previously hamlets. According to Paikray, this is an attempt to isolate Dhinkia. When hundreds of people came to protest the delineation of Mahala village on December 20, police invaded Dhinkia and beat up numerous people, he added.
The police and the locals have been fighting at the bamboo gates since January 1. The betel vine production has also been targeted by the police. So far, about 150 of the 600 plots under the project area have been cleaned, according to Singh. He underlined that the people had given their agreement and received compensation for the plots and that they were not being destroyed arbitrarily.
Residents of Dhinkia, on the other hand, claim that the police are intimidating and abusing individuals who go out for their regular business. Pradip Kumar Satpati, one of them, told The News Reporter over the phone that the SP was sent police to intimidate those opposed to the JUSL project. According to him, the police were forcibly removing betel vine plots and forcing people to sign on plain paper.
According to him, the JUSL project was not considered in the Palli Sabha (or the gram sabha), and no clearance was provided. Satpati was present when the police arrived at Dhinkia on December 4th. He said the bombs were only crackers, and that no big explosions were heard by the neighbors. He said that an official team sent to investigate the matter found no proof of bombs.
Civil society groups have urged the Odisha government to halt the project and drop the false charges, as well as to cease destroying betel vine patches and return the land to the people. “There was no justification for the police to demolish the betel vine plots because the project had not yet gained environmental permission,” said Prafulla Samantara, leader of the National Alliance of Peoples’ Movements (NAPM) and a member of the Sanmyukt Kisan Morcha, which visited the area last week. The region’s economy is reliant on betel vines, which are sold to major cities. In addition, the communities have been cultivating betel vines on forest territory, and their ownership claims have not been resolved.
The Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO), a state government organisation, had purchased 2,700 acres of land in the area for the POSCO project. Despite POSCO’s departure, this land was not returned to the public and was instead given to JUSL. The villages also objected to the public hearing for the JUSL project, which was held in Gadakujang village on December 20, 2019, because the EIA report was not ready on time.
Prasanta Patnaik