Bhubaneswar: The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has taken serious note of the incident in which a tribal man was allegedly crushed to death under a JCB machine during protest against a new rail line project in Odisha’s Sundargarh district.
In a statement, the Commission said that it took cognisance of the incident that took place on April 19 at Barkani village of Sundergarh based on reports published in various newspapers.
The local tribal community was protesting against the proposed construction of a railway line up to Dumerata by the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) when the incident took place.
The Commission has issued notices to the Sundergarh District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police and the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) officials in this regard and sought their replies.
The Commission has asked them to submit a factual report and a report on the action taken in the incident. A team of the Commission will visit the site soon.
