Baliapal: Hundreds of villagers including key panchayat officials Thursday held a demonstration opposing a series of petrochemical projects that are expected to come up at six different panchayats along the coastline under Baliapal block in Balasore district.
The locals, fearing displacement, have warned the district administration of stronger protests in the coming days if the projects were not shelved immediately.
Notably, Tata Group and Creative Port authorities of Chennai had jointly signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government to construct a port near the river Subarnarekha at Chaumukha.
The state government’s infrastructure development arm Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) has started acquiring 35,000 acres of land at Betagadia, Anladiha, Nuagaon, Jagatipur, Jambhirai and Panchupali panchayats under Baliapal block in a bid to kickstart the Haldia petrochemical projects.
Before the acquisition of private and government land for the project, Baliapal tehsildar had attempted to take the locals into confidence by arranging public meetings but residents of the panchayats have been resisting the projects since the beginning of land acquisition process.
The villagers of six panchayats have been residing on government land for over 80 years as the region is fertile and is conducive for agricultural crops like paddy, betel, groundnut and cashew.
“Such a fertile region should not be handed over to industrialists, where hundreds of villagers eke out their living and own pucca houses and farmlands. The MoU should be cancelled by the state government immediately,” a local leader said.
They further stated that if the state government sidelines their demand, they will be compelled to resort to agitations similar to one that the Integrated test range (ITR) project in Balasore met with back in 1980’s.
