Post News Network
Angul, August 6: Tension prevailed outside the district collectorate here Thursday after police forcibly evacuated the Banabaspur residents who were staging a hunger strike demanding employment and rehabilitation from Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) and admitted them to hospital citing deteriorating health conditions.
The sudden crackdown by Model police with deputy collector Bibekananda Sahu officiating as the magistrate drew wide-spread condemnation for the district administration not taking any steps on the demands raised by the agitating peopleand rather chose to evacuate them from the protest site .
The protestors displaced for coalmines of MCL were picked up from the venue in an ambulance and were dumped on the hospital verandah. The hospital authorities instead of providing them treatment chose to overlook them, it is alleged.
Sources said nine families of Banabaspur, who have been displaced for setting up MCL coalmines, have only been given paltry sum as compensation without rehabilitating or employing any of them. This had triggered resentment among them.
The residents in the past had four meetings with MCL authorities in presence of the district administration and the public representatives but to no avail. Their talks with MCL authorities yielded no result as the latter only assured them to look into their demands without giving concrete assurance.
The company authorities continued to overlook them despite the displaced staging agitation twice.
The displaced finally decided to stage fast-unto-death protest outside the collectorate from Monday. Their decision unnerved the company authorities following which additional district magistrate (ADM) Srinivas Behera hurriedly convened a meeting to settle the issue Wednesday.
The MCL authorities like earlier only assured them to look into their demands but as usual failed to give any timeframe. The agitators however, insisted for a timeframe which finally resulted in failure of talks and continuation of their protest.
Later, the administration called up doctors from district headquarters hospital to the protest site and conducted health check-up of the protestors.
Four of them were admitted to the hospital after their health conditions were found critical and reported that condition of other protestors was also similar.
The administration then directed the Model police to evacuate and admit them in the
hospital.
