PARADIP : POSCO-INDIA has left Odisha but the scars that the movement against the company inflicted on lives of people of Jagatsinghpur district refuse to disappear.
On January 29, 2010, 120 anti-Posco activists started a mass dharna at Balitutha - the main entry point to the steel plant site - which continued till May 15 when police fired teargas shells and rubber bullets to disperse them, injuring at least 50 people. Most of these 50 victims are still living with injuries and await compensation from the Government.
Besides, arrest warrants were issued against many villagers of Dhinkia village for their involvement in the violent anti-Posco movement. The villagers are still apprehensive of arrest as cases against them have not been dropped. Although the State Government had in 2013 planned to withdraw about 100 cases against anti- Posco villagers, it never went ahead with it.
According to police reports, total 132 cases related to Posco violence involving 1,460 persons were registered then. Of these, 100 cases are related to minor issues while rest 32 are major criminal offences.
Prior to that in 2008, pro and anti-Posco groups clashed leaving many injured. Anti-Posco activists had severed the arm of a pro-Posco activist, Natabar Khatua in Gobindpur village during a clash. “I fought for the establishment of the steel plant and I lost my arm in fight. Today, the anti-Posco activists have been compensated for their loss and the company is finally leaving. I have not got anything from either the company or the Government,” Khatua lamented.
The same year, three anti-Posco activists, Manas Jena, Tarun mandal and Narahari Sahu, were preparing crude bombs when the explosives went off, killing them on the spot.
Their family members, however, alleged that police never inquired into the cases to find out if they had died while making bombs. “As a result, we never got any compensation,”said Madhulata, a family member.