BALASORE: Vehicular traffic was disrupted after villagers in Baliapal and Basta blocks intercepted a bus carrying Tata Steel staff and 33 youths at Parulia Chowk and detained four officials alleging partiality in job opportunity in the company, on Monday. The protestors withdrew the stir after intervention by Baliapal police a few hours later.
Sources said residents of 45 villages in the two blocks have given their land for a rail route for the proposed Subarnarekha project where Tata Steel reportedly has a major stake. The company had recently selected some youths from the affected families and arranged a bus to take them to Jamshedpur for six-month training after which they would be engaged for the port works.
However, villagers alleged that the company is deliberately selecting a few persons and leaving out eligible youths without proper screening for the jobs. Demanding the engagement of more youths, they claimed that the recruitment process is arbitrary and officials are acting on orders of political leaders while sidelining the demands of villagers.
“Only 33 youths including three women are being taken for training. This is way too little. We demand more recruitment from families who gave their land for the rail route,” said villagers Hemant Jena and Balaram Sahu.
Contacted, Tata Steel’s Head of Administration and Community Engagement, Pramod Kumar said, “The company had a target to provide jobs to more than 1,000 youths from families who gave their land for the project and initially, 33 of them were selected for training. The villagers intentionally detained the officials to push for their demands.”