ANGUL: Residents of Kaniha village displaced for the open cast mine of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) in Talcher have been staging a peaceful dharna for the last 10 days urging the company to acquire leftover land of their village and provide job to the remaining land oustees.
The villagers have been staging a peaceful dharna in front of the Kaniha open cast mine since December 17. President of the village, Kesab Naik said the village land had been acquired by the coal company in three stages in 1995, 2006 and 2014.
“Almost 80 per cent of the land has already been acquired by MCL and 80 to 100 jobs provided. Our lives have become miserable owing to the pollution generated from the industries. Hence, we demand that the company take away our remaining village land and provide jobs to those who haven’t received it,” he said.
Though the agitators did not disrupt the production of coal or its despatch at the mine, they threatened of doing so in the coming days if their demands were not met. Talcher sub-collector and the general manager of Kaniha coal mine were unavailable for comments.