Rajgangpur: Tension mounted at Jhagarpur here during a public hearing for the environmental clearance for expansion of OCL’s Lanjiberna limestone quarry project in Sundargarh district.
The supporters of Biramitrapur MLA George Tirkey and Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act blocked the state highway connecting the expansion site since the early hours of Wednesday.
The administration had to bow down before the demands of the protestors and declare the hearing as void Thursday morning.
Earlier, many supporters of OCL India Limited took out a rally from Ranibandha which culminated at the public hearing site. Seeing a face-off between both the parties, the administration had deployed 12 platoons of police.
DIG Kabita Jalan, SP Soumya Mishra, Rajgangpur SDPO Bijay Kumar Nanda and many senior police officers were present at the site. The Collector, ADM and sub-collector also remained present at the spot.
The administration had to make the hearing on the road as both the supporters and protesters of the project were at loggerheads. The supporters of Tirkey were seen carrying axes, sickles, machetes, swords and lathis.
Though people of many villages including Katanga, Lanjiberna and Laidhipa wanted to take part in the hearing, the supporters of Tirkey opposed them. They even attacked the OCL supporters by lathis in the presence of the police injuring one of them. Injured Mohd Irfan was first taken to a local hospital and later to Rourkela as his condition worsened.
The protesters also vandalised the vehicles kept on the spot. The OCL supporters had to leave the place fearing for their lives.
The supporters of Tirkey again blocked the state highway demanding declaration of the hearing as void since the OCL supporters had left the place.
Hundreds of vehicles were found stranded on either side of the road due to the 21-hour blockade.
The protesters relented in the wee hours of Thursday after the administration declared the hearing as void.
PNN