Joda: As the agitation by activists of the Marangburu Development Committee near Essel Mining at Jurudi under Joda mining circle of Keonjhar entered the fourth day Thursday, eight protesting tribal youths fell sick during their hunger strike. The youths were admitted to a hospital.
Locals have been staging protests demanding jobs in the mines and in operations like loading and unloading inside the mines. They had strongly objected to the hiring of outsiders at the mine.
The youths undergoing treatment are Mania Munda, Saluja Alda, Palwan Munda, Sridhar Munda, Rekanda Munda, Das Munda, Madan Nayak and Umakant Nayak.
The tribal resentment is likely to take a violent turn if their demands are not met, it was learnt. The tribals said the administration had done nothing to sort out the problems of the locals even though four days have passed to their agitation.
On the first day, Barbil tehsildar Khirod Kumar Behera had tried to pacify the protesters and held talks with the mine authorities.
The tehsildar said Thursday, “The company bluntly refused to accept the demands of the protesters. Many organisations have submitted memoranda. Decisions will be taken after reviewing the demands.”
Collector Ashish Thakare said, “Talks were held several times with Sanjay Barik who is heading the agitation. But he is firm and the problem could not be solved.”
Secretary of Marangburu Developmant Committee, Ghasiram Majhi, said the administration had links with companies like Indrani Patnaik and Essel Mining and Industries Ltd. The protests by locals are ignored, he added.
“Will the administration wake up if the protesters die of hunger? If the locals do not get anything peacefully they will turn violent leading to law and order problems. The administration will be responsible for that,” Majhi said.
PNN
