Twelve platoons of armed police forces entered Gobindpur, part of the Posco steel project site near Paradip, early on Sunday morning and evicted people from dozens of betel gardens to acquire 700 acres of government land.
While some people, apparently fearing government backlash, parted with the government land under their “illegal” possession, a few others resisted and clashed with the security personnel.
The ensuing scuffle left three persons injured.
The eviction drive led by Jagatsinghpur district collector S.K. Mallick and superintendent of police Satyabrata Bhoi started at around 4 am following several rounds of discussions with local Congress and CPI leaders by the senior officials of the district administration.
Of the 4004 acres of land required for the `52,000-crore Posco steel project, the state owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) had earlier acquired 2000 acres of government land, mainly in Gadakujanga and Nuagaon villages. Denying forcible acquisition of land, the collector said the villagers voluntarily gave the encroached land and received the compensation cheques. “The villagers of Gobindpur had called us today to surrender the lands. There was no use of force or whatsoever,” said the collector Mr Mallick.
SP Mr Bhoi said at least 15 persons had received compensation cheques by the afternoon and more people would be getting them in the evening.
Gobindpur alone houses more than 200 betel gardens. With lands in Gobindpur now under its possession now, it is expected that the government will make a similar move in Dhinkia, a stronghold of the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) which is spearheading the local people’s anti-displacement campaign.
The sudden move of the forces and forcible eviction from the betel farms left the local people surprised. Only few children and women were guarding the betel farms when the security personnel swooped in.
Meanwhile, the local Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha member Bibhu Prasad Tarai met the collector and SP.