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Citizens urge Governor to visit Kalinganagar steel hub

BHUBANESWAR: A group of concerned citizens of Orissa on Wednesday appealed to Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare to visit Kalinganagar steel hub in Jajpur district to see the plight of the tribals opposing construction of a common corridor road in their locality.

The five-member team that met Mr. Bhandare at the Raj Bhavan here included former High Court judge Justice Pratap K. Mishra and former Union Steel Minister Braja Kishore Tripathy and social activist Prafulla Samantara.

In a memorandum, the group demanded that the work on the common corridor road should be immediately stopped and the demands of the tribals agitating under the banner of Bisthapan Birodhi Janamanch be taken seriously.

“The Governor may please visit the area personally and see the untold miseries of the people which have been caused to them by an irresponsible and dehumanized administration which is working hands in glove with the companies in the area,” they said in their memorandum.

They also demanded that prohibitory orders that were in force in the controversial construction site be withdrawn along with withdrawal of armed police from the region.

Probe sought

The activists further demanded that the judicial inquiry that was ordered after killing of 14 tribal men and women in police firing in Kalinganagar on January 2, 2006 be expedited and its scope be expanded to include the police and private atrocities on agitating tribals in the region after that till the recent (March 30) police firing.

They also demanded that all media persons, human rights activists and concerned citizens be allowed free access to he conflict and firing sites.

Hundreds of policemen had forced their entry into Baligotha villages in Kalinganagar on March 30. Meanwhile, a large group of journalists of the Capital city staged a protest against attack on media persons at Kalinganagar three days ago.

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