JAGATSINGHPUR: The ongoing protests against demarcation of revenue villages under Dhinkia panchayat in Erasama block of Jagatsinghpur took an ugly turn on Wednesday as villagers including women of newly created Mahala revenue village had a face off with the police.
Irate villagers including women restricted the entry of revenue officials and police personnel, paralysing the demarcation process on the day. Earlier, demarcation of the newly-created Patana revenue village under the panchayat was completed by the administration on Tuesday amid heavy security to keep protestors at bay.
As per schedule, revenue officials led by Erasama tehsildar C Prangyananda Das along with police personnel reached the boundary line near the sea beach on the day and erected a few cement poles for demarcation. Later, the team proceeded towards Mahala village where they were met with stiff resistance from villagers who formed a human chain at Balitikira to restrict entry leading to disruption of the work for more than five hours.
Though Das requested the villagers to send their representatives for a peaceful discussion, it fell on deaf ears with agitators demanding withdrawal of police force from the village. The administration however, refused to withdraw forces keeping law and order situation in mind. “Earlier, no demarcation work has been carried out for revenue villages so why now? This is just a ploy of the administration to hand over these lands to JSW,” said Mahala village chief Sachidananda Beura.
IIC of Abhyachandpur police station Pradyumna Behera said only 50 per cent of the demarcation work could be carried out on the day and no date has been fixed yet for the remaining process.