Post News Network
Jajpur, Feb 19: Tension ran high in Manatira village under Jakhpura police limits in Jajpur district after police cracked down on unarmed villagers and arrested 15 of them over their opposition to construction of a railway line by Tata group on their land Thursday.
A clash between several village women and policemen for half-an-hour preceded the arrest of the villagers where the former strongly opposed the construction works on their land. The arrested persons are Sanatan Dhal, Susant Dhal, Dushmant Dhal, Ramesh Dhal, Arab Dhal, Chandra Dhal, Abhimanyu Dhal, Pratap Dhal, Prafulla Chandra Dhal, Trilochan Dhal, Hemant Dhal, Prabhat Dhal and others.
The villagers flayed the police and the administration for acting at the behest of the company and exerting pressure on them over a court order. They demanded that the company and administration should pay them adequate compensation for acquiring their ancestral land, failing which they warned of severe consequences in days to come.
Sources said a land measuring 24 acre 40 decimal on plot no-483, khata no-483 in Ravana mouza under Danagadi tehsil is recorded in the name of Nidhi Dakhinaray, the grandfather of the
displaced families.
They claimed that the company has not sought their permission before laying the railway tracks and has started digging it for the purpose by encroaching upon the land.
The affected families have been
opposing the company’s move since beginning and had managed to impose prohibitory orders under section-144 on the said land from Orissa High Court. The imposition of prohibitory order stopped works on the land for a long
period, but the issue erupted again after the consultancy firm Gayatri Construction started works on the land in police presence Wednesday.
After reports surfaced, the displaced family members rushed to the spot and opposed works on their land. The dispute arose after the company officials threatened them to go back claiming the land doesn’t belong to them. This
infuriated them as hundreds of men and women Thursday gheraoed the land and opposed the works.
ASP Pradipta Kumar Sahani tried to play down the incident and termed the move by the villagers as illegal. He said according to a state government decision, the land has been handed over to Tata through Gridco and work on the land started only after the prohibitory order was quashed Wednesday. They do not own the land and are protesting only for money, he added.
