Irate Villagers Of Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur Protest Against JSW Multi-Project

Jagatsinghpur: Tension ran high at the Gajakujang area in Odisha’s Jagatsingihpur district on Friday afternoon as irate locals had a scuffle with the police and officials of the Jindal South West (JSW) Utkal Steel Ltd protesting against the company’s proposed multi-project in the area.

The incident took place during a public hearing near Kunjabihari Temple in Gajakujang panchayat.

According to reports, about 2000 people from Gajakujang, Dhinkia, Nuagaon panchayat and Nolia Sahi were present at the public hearing jointly conducted by JSW in the presence of district officials for the environment clearance of  the proposed integrated steel plant of 13.2 MTPA crude steel, 10 MTPA cement grinding unit, a 900-MW captive power plant and an all-weather multi-cargo greenfield jetty for handling capacity of 52 MTPA at Jatadhari.

Claiming that the proposed projects will adversely hit their livelihood, activists of the JSW Sangram Samiti, the people of Dhinkia and members of the forest committees boycotted the hearing and had a scuffle with JSW officials and the police. 

It may be mentioned that the state government had allotted the land acquired for the Posco steel project in Jagatsinghpur district to JSW Steel in September last year for its proposed mega steel plant in the state.