ROURKELA: Braving the scorching heat, tribals continued to stage agitation at Barkani near Bondamunda for the second consecutive day on Sunday with the body of a protestor who was crushed to death after allegedly jumping in front of a moving JCB excavator to stop work on the new rail line project of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP).
Protesting the new double railway line of RSP, the tribals have been sitting at the agitation site for more than 32 hours with the body of Eto Ekka (37), which has started showing signs of decomposition. Their chief demands include settlement of pending displacement issues of RSP and South Eastern Railway (SER) over the land acquired at Bondamunda nearly seven decades back.
On Saturday, some of the protestors had jumped in front of an excavator engaged by SER to start work on the new rail line. While Ekka was killed, another agitator escaped with injuries. Ekka’s death flared up the situation as the protesters resorted to stone pelting and also clashed with police. At least 18 people including eight policemen and an additional tehsildar were injured in the violence.
On Sunday, Rajgangpur MLA of Congress CS Raazen Ekka, BJD’s Birmitrapur MLA Rohit Joseph Tirkey, former RN Pali legislator and Rourkela BJD president Halu Mundari and JMM leader Letha Tirkey joined the agitation.
In-charge Sundargarh collector and Rourkela ADM Ashutosh Kulkarni, DIG (Western Range) Brijesh Kumar Rai and Rourkela SP Nitesh Wadhwani tried to convince the agitators to withdraw the protest but to no avail. Revenue divisional commissioner (North), Sambalpur Sachin Ramchandra Jadhav also talked to the two MLAs over phone and sought time to address the demands. But in absence of any written assurance from the administration, the agitators refused to break the impasse.
Deme Oram, who is leading the agitation, said the protest is not only related to the new rail line project of RSP but also the land acquisition by RSP and SER at Bondamunda and nearby areas during 1956. Following a massive rail-roko protest at Kukudagate level-crossing at Bondamunda in January 2006, the administration had assured to return surplus and unutilised land to the original tenants, settle pending rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) issues and also make provisions to provide land to landless families. Basing on the agreement, the Railway Board had also assured that Group D jobs would be given to left-out displaced persons.
Oram further said, “The agitators want the RDC to give written assurance to fulfil the pending promises. Till such time, no new work would start on the land under the occupation of tribal people for livelihood use. In absence of any written assurance, we have decided to continue the agitation.”
Eight platoons of police force have been deployed in the area to prevent any untoward incident.