ROURKELA: People of 14 villages allegedly affected by the Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) continue their protests as talks with the MCL officials failed to yield fruitful results.
The Sundargarh district administration on Tuesday convened a meeting with the villagers. But the talks failed to break the ice. This meeting took place after a meeting convened by senior officials of MCL ended in a deadlock.
Due to the agitations since Sunday, all mining and transport operations of the MCL in Hemgir block of Sundargarh remained paralysed for the third consecutive day.
Sources said on the request of the MCL, the district administration led by Sundargarh sub-collector Dasarathi Srabu convened the meeting with the protesters in front of the Kulda open cast mine on Tuesday.
Prominent among others were MCL’s director (Personnel) Keshab Rao, director (Technical & Operation) Jugal Kishore Borah, director (Technical Project & Planning) AS Bapat, general manager (Land & Revenue) Anupam Srivastav, GM, Basundhara Area B Reddy and GM, Mahalaxmi Area Ajay Namjoshi, were present. However, the meeting failed to reach any conclusion as the agitators announced to continue the protest indefinitely.
Sundargarh MLA Kusum Tete and Zilla Parishad president Kunti Pradhan also attended the meeting. At the end, the sub-collector said the administration would continue its efforts for an amicable solution between the warring parties.MCL Basundhargarh-Mahalaxmi Bisthapith Suraksha Manch president Rajendra Naik said the agitation would continue till MCL pays land compensation and settles Rehabilitation & Resettlement (R&R) claims of all displaced persons of 14 affected villages.