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Friday, Jan 13, 2006

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National

Tribals take out rally

Staff Reporter

In Kalinga Nagar, the situation continued to remain tense; blockade of highway on

BHUBANESWAR: The agitation by tribals against displacement by industries in Orissa continued on Thursday, with hundreds of them taking out a rally in the district headquarters town of Malkangiri. They were expressing their solidarity with the tribals of Kalinga Nagar district where 12 were killed in a police firing on January 2.

They submitted a memorandum to the Collector, demanding an end to displacement of tribals in the name of industrialisation.

A group of people belonging to the primitive Dongria Kondh tribe staged a demonstration outside the Governor's house here, condemning the police firing. They demanded that no bauxite mine be handed over at Niyamgiri hills in Kalahandi district to Vedanta Alumina.

In Kalinga Nagar, the situation continued to remain tense as the blockade of the Daitari-Paradip express highway by activists of the Visthapan Virodhi Janmanch continued for the 11th day on Thursday. The Janmanch has declared that it would continue the agitation.

Blockade lifted

Tribals lifted the economic blockade in Rourkela after a discussion among among the leaders spearheading the agitation, government officials and authorities of the Rourkela Steel Plant.

The tribals were demanding jobs for each family that had lost return of the surplus land acquired by the plant authorities about five decades ago.

The Congress reiterated that it would continue its agitation for the cause of Kalinga Nagar tribals. Its national general secretary, V. Narayanaswamy, demanded that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik resign owning moral responsibility for the killing of tribals.

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