New Delhi: At least 20 houses of residents of Odisha’s Dhinkia village – where a steel plant is proposed to be set up – have been demolished in an apparent bid to hand over the land to a Jindal company that will set up the plant.
The village is home to over 4,000 people, a majority of whom belong to the Dalit community and also members of the Santhal tribe. It is inhabited by betel leaf farmers and fisherfolk.
For nearly a decade, the village has been at the centre of land disputes. First, the people of Dhinkia led a successful protest against the South Korean behemoth POSCO’s plan of setting up a steel mill in the region. And, now they are fighting against the transfer of around 1,174 hectares of land for JSW’s 65,000-crore steel plant.
Activists say that rampant arrests and demolitions are ongoing in a bid to hand out the land to the company.
Prashant Paikray, the spokesperson of the anti-Jindal, anti-POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, told The Wire, “On October 22, a few officials of the proposed JSW Utkal Steel Limited project, led by human resources manager Subash Parida, and some local goons with the help of eight-ten police officials forcefully demolished the houses of Dhinkia villagers, who were not even provided the opportunity to take their belongings including – their food supplies or rations.”
“The people whose houses were demolished have been living in the forest for ages as they are landless people. These forests are their only source of livelihood,” he said.
Charana Samal, a resident whose house was demolished, told The Wire, “Close to 20 houses have been forcefully demolished. All our belongings are still there in the house. They are claiming that our house is on Jindal’s land, but we have been living on this land for the past 20 years. This is our jal (water), jangal (forest) and zameen (land).”
Also read: Odisha: Déjà Vu in Dhinkia as People Renew Protests Against Jindal’s Steel Project
“I am a betel leaf farmer, my field has been destroyed. After my field was destroyed, I was detained and taken to the police station. They were trying to use force to remove us. They even shooed away mediapersons and were trying to snatch phones if someone was trying to document the demolition,” he said.
Paikray told The Wire that a young boy named Nilu Mohapatra was detained by the police because he took a video of the incident and later shared it with others. He was allegedly physically assaulted and has been threatened with dire consequences by the local police, he added.
In a statement, the Pratirodh Committee said that the UN guidelines on “development-based evictions” were not followed in this case.
Moreover, the Dhinkia villagers also complained of a lack of access to information on their rights, and said that no notice was issued to them on the evictions.
The statement added, “Due to the lack of information and legal advice, many villagers are already evicted and do not know where to turn for redress.”
Earlier, POSCO had planned to set up a 12 million-tonne capacity steel project at the site with an investment of Rs 52,000 crore. The project faced stiff resistance from villagers, and in 2017, the South Korean steel major pulled out of the project.
In January this year, police lathi-charged residents and arrested activists who protested against the proposed JSW Steel project at Dhinkia. Over the year, several activists, including Debendra Swain, who have been protesting against the continued oppression in Jagatsinghpur’s Dhinkia region, continue to remain behind bars.
