JAJPUR: The Kalinga Nagar Industries Association (KNIA) has urged the Odisha chief secretary (CS) to take steps to tackle the menace of organised extortion and harassment by some outfits in the Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex area of the district.
In a letter to CS Pradeep Kumar Jena, KNIA president PL Kandoi wrote about the harassment and exploitation by the miscreants active in the area with the motive to earn easy money unscrupulously.
Kandoi alleged, “Hooligans in the garb of organisations have been harassing the industries by way of extortion. These people continuously go on making false and fictitious allegations before the State Pollution Control Board and pressurising them to close down the units.”
The miscreants are troubling the industries and forcing them to pay exorbitant freight rates for road transportation and demanding abnormal loading rates at the mines. Many FIRs have been lodged at local Police Station against these associations and sanitise, he stated.
The industries body sought the intervention of the CS and request him to advise the district administration to provide necessary support, conduct an inquiry into the nefarious activities of the miscreants and take appropriate action against them.