BHUBANESWAR: The process of lifting of the road blockade agitation by tribals of Kalinga Nagar suffered a setback on Tuesday as tribals did not accept the chopped off palms of five of the 13 persons who were killed in the police firing on January 2 last year.

The tribals came to the district headquarters hospital in Jajpur town to collect the chopped off palms and the palms were taken in ambulance to Kalinga Nagar.

Ex gratia

The representatives of the Visthapan Virodhi Janmanch, however, refused to accept the palms after they found that in the death certificates of the 13 persons killed in the police firing the cause of death was not mentioned.

The tribals also refused to accept the ex gratia payments for the families of those killed in the police firing.

While officials who travelled in the ambulance left the spot, the driver and the vehicle were waiting for the authorities to reach the spot till late in the evening. Meanwhile, the Visthapan Virodhi Janmanch wrote a letter addressed to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik blaming the district administration for not taking necessary steps to resolve the crisis. The Janmanch urged the Chief Minister to fix up another date for holding discussions with them. And before the meeting date was fixed, the Government should prepare a detailed note on its views with regards to the seven-point demands of the Kalinga Nagar tribals, the organisation said. The Janmanch leaders after holding a meeting with the district administration on Monday had agreed to lift the road blockade from the Daitari-Paradip highway on Tuesday after they were returned the chopped off palms, death certificates and ex gratia money. In the letter to Mr. Patnaik, the Janmanch said that the District Collector of Jajpur had violated the spirit of the commitments given by him during the discussions on Jan 31 regarding stoppage of work by Tata Steel till the issue was fully resolved.

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