It is unfortunate that while on the one hand the people of Orissa are eager to see their State advance economically with the advent of new industries, several groups with vested interests are hindering progress in the name of social activism. Large-scale industrial developments planned across mineral-rich Orissa and the so-called ‘tribal belt’ of the Country are pro-people and understandably the surest means of improving the lives of the people in the region.

The Issue

Kalinganagar, which comes under the Sukinda and the Dangadi blocks (District Jajpur) in Orissa, is an organised industrial area that will become an advanced steel hub in the Country. To this end, acquisition of land was necessary and along with it the displacement of families living on that land. Therefore, great care was taken from the beginning to address all the issues of relocation for the benefit of the rural population. While the Orissa Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy was adopted in 2006 to secure ‘adivasi’ interests satisfactorily, a company like Tata steel has gone much beyond the Government stipulations in its specific R&R programme.

Interference

The tribal and rural people had welcomed the transformation enthusiastically. However, owing to the adverse interference by several activists and groups with selfish motives, their dream of progress has met many deliberate obstacles on a continuous basis.

• One of the main miscreant groups calls itself ‘Bishtapan Birodhi Jan Manch (BBJM)’ and it has continuously resisted all kinds of activities in the Kalinganagar Industrial Complex and placed several demands to basically hoodwink the local people. In actuality it is a domineering, self-centered group only motivated by their own profits. It is causing serious damage to tribal welfare in the name of fairness and torturing innocent locals who dare to co-operate with industrial ventures. One of their objectives is to gather funds from all those who prefer to stall progress for their own selfish interests.
  
  
• Some local industries are also supporting the miscreants of BBJM by funding anti-national activism for their own benefit.
  
  
• The ‘POSCO Pratirod Sangram Samiti’ (PPSS) too has gone on a militant mode of attack against the setting up of POSCO’s steel plant at Paradip. They have even blocked the road to Dhinkia, with little regard for the inconvenience caused to the common people.
  
  
• The ‘Nava Nirman Samiti’ on the other hand has been opposing the project in a more non-violent manner, misleading the people nonetheless.
  
  
• Other groups that have been roped in include The Right to Information (RTI) Group and the ‘Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee’.
  
  
• Adding to the pressure are the Naxalites, an armed Maoist uprising that claims to be fighting on behalf of marginalised rural communities.
  

Ploys

The local people were never against the idea of an Industrial Complex at Kalinganagar and accepted the land compensation willingly. But when it came to the actual process of displacement and relocation, they were led astray by activists who took every measure to create unfounded doubts in their minds, leading to a general feeling of hostility towards industrialisation. Be it the anti-Vedanta movement in Puri and Lanjigarh, the anti-POSCO movement in Erasama, the movement against Bhusan Steel and Sterlite industries or the agitations against Tata Steel’s project in Kalinganagar – it has been a connived resistance that has ruthlessly used innocent people as mere tools.

Though at the moment the agitations against Tata Steel in Kalinganagar are most concentrated, the air is tense in Kalahandi and Dhinkia too. Everywhere, the underlining story is that of the local people’s misfortune, created and carried on by miscreants in their own interest.

The local people of Kalinganagar have reported that the atrocities of BBJM took a rather more gruesome turn after the death of Sanjay Soy of Gobarghati village. He got killed in 2006 as the BBJM supporters did not let him visit the hospital for a medical checkup. Ms. Parbati Rana of Bhuvan is also another victim of BBJM. She lost her eyes when she was stoned by the Birodhi Manch supporters in Madhuban Chowk. These acts prove that the main aim of BBJM is to terrorise the villagers of Kalinganagar and subdue their support of industrial progress.

Results of road blockade by BBJM

• The 14-month road blockade by the Birodhi Mancha leaders has made the economy suffer a massive loss of Rs 4000 crores. The blockade also led to a loss of employment opportunities that could have improved the lives of thousands of local tribals. The worst part is that the BBJM has done all this under the pretext of protection of tribal rights, that too with the help of foreign fund. It was only after the father of Late Sanjay Soy, who died due to road blockade, filed a case in Cuttack High court, that the road blockage was lifted.


• The violence that was generated in Kalinganagar made two steel plants shift their project from the region. First was Maharashtra Seamless Ltd., which faced wrath of tribal violence in September 2005 during its ground breaking ceremony, and then the Uttam Galva Ltd., which could not even enter the area as the tribals were blocking the road. The shifting of these companies from this region led to a cumulative loss of investment of Rs 3,800 crores.


• The transportation of the iron and chrome ore was immensely hampered due to the blockade. The NH-200 transports 3 million tons of chrome ore and concentrate and 5 million tons of iron ore annually. This incident resulted in strong protests by the people of Jajpur. Due to pressure from both sides (from NH-200 side and Jajpur road) transportation of mineral became a serious problem. The incident ultimately resulted in loss of productions in the surrounding iron ore and chrome ore mines in Daitary and Sukinda valley.


• Birodhi Mancha under the influence of naxal leaders like Rajendra Sarangi, Ganath Patra, Anna Reddy have been regularly extracting money from the existing industries in order to arrest all industrial construction in Kalinganagar. This resulted in a loss of 20 lakh mandays of employment for the local tribals.