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NALCO-displaced persons block rail traffic

KORAPUT: Transportation of alumina powder from NALCO mines at Damanjodi in Koraput district was brought to a standstill when the Land Displaced Persons (LDP) under the leadership of Taraprasad Bahinipati, MLA, Koraput, by blocking the rail traffic to the mines of the company on Monday. The agitators blocked the rail route link to the plant by sitting on the track near the loco repair shed at Damanjodi township .

Alleging that at least 2,200 families around NALCO’s bauxite mines at Damanjodi had not received their due compensation package for the differential approach adopted by the company at the time of displacing people in 1984 , Mr. Bahinipati, demanded an immediate settlement to the long-standing negligence by the company. While the company had compensated with jobs to the people for losing land at Anugul the refinery unit of the company in the other corner of the State, jobs were given to only to the families who had lost houses for establishing the company at Damanjodi, he alleged.

Among other issues, the agitators alleged that most of the agricultural land around the plant area were badly affected by the poisonous water which was sipping into the fields from the red mud pond of the company. All these farmers too had the rights to be compensated against losing their source of livelihood. Moreover the company had assured in the past to provide the widows of 107 LDPs who had died while in service. But the company had failed to keep its promise till date , Mr. Bahinipati alleged

According to sources in the company, at least four goods carriage trains carry more than 12.5 Thousand tones of alumina powder every day from the mines at Damanjodi to the refinery at Anugul. While there were reports of piling up of a huge amount of the mineral in the stores of the company for the lack of transport by rail, G.K. Behera, the executive director of NALCO at Damanjodi, however, said that there was no loss incurred to the company for the time being.

Further talking to the media over phone from the Corporate Office in Bhubaneswar, B.N. Swain , ED, HRD, NALCO said that the policy to compensate the affected persons differently at Angul and Damanjodi was taken up by a high-level committee under the chairmanship of the then Chief Minister in 1984 and could be dealt through discussions at different level. However the agitators unmoved by the assurances were determined to continue their blockade till the company comes out with a package, Mr. Bahiniapti added.

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