Locals in the eastern Indian state of Odisha have intensified protests and agitation against JSW Limited’s greenfield steel mill project, clashing with police, digging trenches and putting up barricades around villages at the project site near the port town of Paradip, state government officials said on Tuesday, December 21.
According to the officials, the local population at the project site hurled brickbats at the police force though this was denied by representatives of the protesters who claimed “police atrocities”.
Two of the protesters were arrested by the police and locals claimed that seven locals were injured in a baton charge by the police.
Conflicting reports suggested that, while the local administration has denied that any locals will be displaced by the steel mill project, leaders of the protestors have claimed that the administration is bifurcating existing villages to make way for the project.
According to the state government, the local administration is just demarcating the land already allotted to the steel company. This is the second time since early this month that protesters have been able to scuttle the land demarcation exercise of the authorities.
Meanwhile, last week, JSW Limited announced a rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) compensation package for people affected by the project and to facilitate implementation of the $7 billion steel mill of 13.2 million mt per year capacity.
Incidentally, the JSW project is to be located at the very site which had been allocated by the Odisha government for a steel mill project proposed by South Korean steelmaker POSCO decades ago but abandoned by the latter in the face of opposition from the local population.