PARADIP: In yet another attempt at pacifying Dhinkia villagers and seeking their consent in dismantling betel vines, Jagatsinghpur SP Akhileshwar Singh on Wednesday assured villagers of withdrawal of false cases against anti-POSCO activists of Patana.
Erasama tehsildar C Pragyananda Das along with Abhaychandpur IIC Jeevan Prakash Jena held a meeting with the villagers of Patana on the day to seek their cooperation for the JSW project. Affected villagers informed that nearly 52 families who had lent their support were ostracised and have been put up at POSCO transit colony at Balitutha for 10 years now.
Besides demanding adequate compensation, aggrieved villagers also urged the administration to withdraw around 250 cases registered against anti-Posco activists. Later in the evening, SP Singh sought the cooperation of Patana villagers to expedite work on the steel plant.
Earlier, three meetings had been conducted in Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadkujang panchayats last month where villagers had agreed to lend support to the JSW project but only after their demands were fulfilled and a compensation package finalised. But situation turned ugly after the district administration dismantled 11 betel vineyards last week.