JAGATSINGHPUR: Turning adversity into advantage, villagers in Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadakujang panchayats under Erasama block have started pitching issues like employment, compensation, rehabilitation and pollution management when candidates contesting polls come to them seeking votes. The voices of protest against JSW though seem to have been subdued.
Sources said, with barely a few days left for panchayat elections, door to door canvassing kicked off in the three panchayats last week and majority villagers, except for a few, are coming out with their demands related to jobs and resettlement first.
Local residents who alleged being cheated by IOCL with regard to providing jobs to them in 1999, now feel their wounds have become raw with JSW setting up a plant on their land. However the villagers have softened stance on JSW with a hope that they will demand their due from candidates contesting polls.
Sarpanch of Gadakujang panchayat Sampad Barik said,”No survey has started to include betel vine labourers for sustenance allowance. We have sought intervention of local MLA cum Water Resources Minister Raghunandan Das but to no avail.”
Meanwhile, poll campaigns started in Dhinkia village only on Thursday. Election activities had not taken off in the village due to the tension following the violent clash between cops and the locals over the JSW project last month.
Fearing law and order situation, booths have been tagged in other villages while villagers are fearing to step out apprehending police action. In Dhinkia panchayat, elections to the posts of Zilla Parishad (ZP) and panchayat samiti member will be held.
Contacted, Congress ZP member candidate Pinaki Narayan Das said,”We have started our election campaign in Dhinkia where voters are fearful. But we are convincing them to cast votes as it is their democratic right. Villagers of Nuagaon and Gadakujang have urged to fulfill demands on issues of employment and compensation before setting up the JSW steel plant.”