JAGATSINGHPUR: At a time when villages across all 198 panchayats in Jagatsinghpur district are abuzz with pre-poll activities in last leg of campaigning for the panchayat elections, there’s an eerie calm in trouble-torn Dhinkia village. Here, even basic election activities have not been carried out owing to the frequent protests and violence in the village over the JSW project.
Sources said rallies, door to door campaigns or even distribution of leaflets by party candidates have not begun owing to the continuing tension after the violent clash between police and the villagers last month.
There is provision for booths in each ward of the panchayat for more polling. But apprehending law and order situation, the district administration has tagged six booths of Dhinkia with those of Patana, Mahal and Trilochanpur. As normalcy is yet to return and many villagers are still in hiding, there are others fearing to go to neighbouring villages to cast their vote fearing police action.
As per reports, nearly 25 villagers in Dhinkia are still in hiding while many have shifted to other places in fear of police action. Villagers fear to step out as security personnel are deployed outside the panchayat office and other locations to prevent any unexpected flare-up, given the volatile situation in the area due to the proposed steel plant.
Local residents have expressed sorrow that due to the prevailing state of affairs, they are unable to exercise their voting rights. Dhinkia sarpanch Kishore Kumar Parida however said that the situation is gradually improving and different political party candidates have convinced the villagers to cast their votes
BJD zilla parishad candidate Tamil Pradhan said, “Normalcy has been restored but villagers are still living in fear. We have not yet started the campaign. I have decided to meet all voters and convince them to vote.”There are 7,267 voters in the panchayat of which 2,028 are in Dhinkia village.