Members of the Bisthapan Birodhi Janamanch, carrying traditional weapons, participate in a meeting at Chandia village in Orissa to protest the killing of a villager in police firing.
KALINGANAGAR: Hundreds of tribal men and women of this industrial area in Jajpur district of Orissa on Friday appealed to all Opposition parties in the State to help them continue their agitation against displacement and alleged harassment at the hands of the local police and the administration.
They also demanded that the local police hand over the body of Laxman Jamuda, a villager who was killed in police firing at Chandia village on May 12, to his relatives.
The tribals demanded that the police immediately release Lalmohan Jamuda, nephew of the police firing victim, who was taken away by the police on the day of the firing. The demands were raised at a meeting organised by the Bisthapan Birodhi Janamanch, the organisation spearheading the anti-displacement agitation in the locality since long.
Addressing the meeting, Janamanch secretary Rabindra Jarika blamed Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik for using the police and the administration against them for opposing establishment of a 6 million-tonne capacity steel plant of Tata Steel in the locality at the cost of their land and livelihood sources.
Mr. Jarika appealed to the intelligentsia and concerned citizens to come to their rescue. The Janamanch will invite all Opposition parties to participate in a meeting to be held on May 22 to pay tributes to Laxman Jamuda.
Friday's meeting was attended by a number of political leaders and social activists.
Referring to reports that the police had handed over the body of Laxman Jamuda to one of his distant relatives and that it was cremated in Puri on May 12, Mr. Jarika said the administration was making all out efforts to hide the fact that Jamuda was killed by police bullets.
Among others who addressed the meeting were the former Union Minister, Braja Kishore Tripathy, president of the Odisha Jana Sammilani Rabi Das, Prafulla Samantara of the Lok Shakti Abhiyan and leaders of Communist Party of India, the CPI(M-L), the CPI(M-L) Liberation, and the CPI(ML) New Democracy, the Odisha Jana Adhikar Parishad and the Save Odisha Forum.
NHRC urged
The speakers urged the National Human Rights Commission to intervene in the matter to save the agitating tribals from alleged police atrocities.
They demanded that the Naveen Patnaik government stop adopting repressive measures against the tribals, who were not willing to part with their land for the Tata steel project.
Today, the police have killed one person in Kalinganagar and critically injured at least thirty more; at the proposed POSCO plant site in Jagatsinghpur, Orissa, 25 platoons of police have been deployed to crush the people defending their land. They expect an attack tomorrow or the day after.
As national platforms of democratic forest movements, with more than 200 organisational members spread across the country, we unequivocally condemn this brutality. But such atrocities are not occurring in isolation. Operation Green Hunt and the increasing miitarisation of the conflict in central India is wreaking devastation in our homelands.and closing the space for democratic struggles. We first reiterate the following facts, to expose the myths being promoted by the government:
In all the areas where Operation Green Hunt is underway, aside from individual atrocities, security forces are now preventing people from entering the forest, cultivating their lands or collecting minor forest produce. The numbers that are threatened with starvation or disease as a result is not even known.These facts have been ignored even as the tragic loss of lives in Maoist attacks have received a lot of attention. How can an offensive with such results be justified?
An offensive in the name of the “rule of law” has been launched in areas where the government has never shown the slightest respect for the law. Under the law, land acquisition in Scheduled Areas is subject to consultation with the gram sabha (village assembly); diversion of forest land in all forests is subject to the consent of the gram sabha; and people have rights over village common lands, forests, water bodies and grazing areas. Can the government name a single place in the country where the rights of people over forests and lands have been fully recognised and respected? Can it name a single “development” project in the forest areas that has complied with the requirements of law? Rather, in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh alone, after 2006 the government has illegally granted in principle or final clearances for the use of 15,411 hectares of forest land to various “projects”.
The government's true intentions are revealed by their response to democratic movements in the majority of forest areas, where the CPI(Maoist) does not exist. As an indicator, in just the few weeks between March 20 and April 20, activists in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam and West Bengal were arrested or attacked by police for the crime of standing up for the law and demanding legal rights. The protesters at POSCO and many other places, who have no link whatsoever with the Maoists, are being attacked. These are examples of a trend that has become far worse with Operation Green Hunt, under which the label “Maoist” is used to justify all kinds of brutality. The Home Minister's latest statement threatening anyone “supporting Maoism” with jail is clearly aimed at justifying yet more such brutality.
The conflicts in forest areas, whether with the CPI(Maoist) or with other movements, have nothing to do with “security” or “development”.What is at stake is the right of people to control their ecology, their production systems and their lives. Can a community lead a life of dignity when they are harassed, beaten or killed every time they cultivate forest land, collect minor forest produce or protest evictions? People are not demanding welfare; they are struggling for the right to live with freedom and dignity. This is the true meaning of security, development and the rule of justice.
It is clear that the government's offensive is driven by more obvious interests – resource grabs (in water, minerals and land) have become a key source of profits. As the Maheshwar Dam, Vedanta or POSCO projects were found to break the law, the government has scrambled to bend or break the law itself to favour the corporates. When the Forest Department promotes illegal policies in international negotiations on climate change (i.e. the REDD agreement), these are not just condoned but promoted as a point of pride. Meanwhile, people's rights over minor forest produce, forest land and common lands are frustrated at every turn by official violations of the Forest Rights Act. Clearly this is why the government now wants to crush all resistance, whether it is organised by the CPI(Maoist) or not.
Beyond Green Hunt: A Call for Democratic Space
We believe in and stand for the mass democratic struggle of the working people for social transformation. From this perspective, the damage is not limited to this offensive and the devastation it is wreaking. More insidious but much longer lasting is the destructive impact this militarisation is having on the democratic space for people's struggles. This militarisation is not limited to Operation Green Hunt.
Even outside this offensive, the government has consistently used its force against all democratic formations and those who speak the language of people's rights; it has thrown the Constitution to the winds. The CPI(Maoist) has also engaged in indiscriminate physical attacks against those who are of a different political allegiance, and has often shown little tolerance for those who are engaged in other movements or who are critical of them.The turning of vast areas of the country into war zones, where all else is subordinated to the perceived military needs of the government or the CPI(Maoist), is unacceptable. It constitutes a betrayal of the values that both the CPI(Maoist) and the government claim to believe in. For this reason above all, there is an urgent need at this moment to restore basic democratic norms in the conflict zones.
Our Call:
The paramilitary forces must be withdrawn and the salwa judum, as well as other similar private militias in other states, must be disbanded. Public facilities – schools, clinics, etc. - must be treated as out of bounds for the conflict.
The government must respect the rights of people over their lands, forest produce and community forest resources as provided by the Constitution, the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, the Forest Rights Act and other such laws. It must comply with the requirements under these Acts relating to the consent of the community prior to diversion or acquisition of land.
The security forces must stop interfering with the rights of people to cultivate their fields, go to markets and engage in their livelihood activities.
Illegal arrests, fake encounters and police murders must be halted immediately.
The CPI(Maoist) should make clear its position on the activities of other political forces in the conflict areas. It should respect the right of the people to be members of other parties, including opposing parties, or other movements and to otherwise exercise their democratic rights.
The right of refugees and the displaced to return home, especially in Dantewada, must be respected by the security forces and their private militias.
Campaign for Survival and Dignity: (consisting of the following State federations)
Madhya Pradesh Jangal Adhikar Bachao Andolan Jangal Adhikar Sangharsh Samiti (Maharashtra) Bharat Jan Andolan (Jharkhand) Campaign for Survival and Dignity - Orissa Jan Shakti Sanghatan (Chhattisgarh) Adivasi Mahasabha (Gujarat) Jangal Jameen Jan Andolan (Rajasthan) Orissa Jan Adhikar Morcha Campaign for Survival and Dignity - Tamil Nadu Adivasi Jangal Janjeevan Andolan (Dadra and Nagar Haveli)
National Forum of Forest Peoples and Forest Workers:
Adivasi Banihar Shakti Sangathana (Chhattisgarh) Nadi Ghati Morcha (Chattisgarh) Jharkhand Jangal Bachao Andolan (Jharkhand) Chattisgarh Jan-ban Adhikar Manch Birsa Munda Vu-adhikar Manch (Madhya Pradesh) Patta Dalit Adhikar Manch (Uttar Pradesh) Kaimnoor KShettra Majdoor Sangharsh Samittee,Sonebhadra,UP Ghad Kshettra Majdoor Sangharsh Samittee,Uttarakhand National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers (North Bengal Regional Committee)
NFFPFW condemns the Police Terror at Chandia, Kalinganagar
The death of Lakshman Jamud in Police Firing in Chandia village of Kalinganagar area today (12 May 2010) has shocked and angered us, along with all democratic-minded citizens of the country. Ever since the heinous murder of 14 adivasis in 2006, Kalinganagar has been synonymous with people’s democratic resistance against corporate land-grab. Despite continuous provocations by Tata-sponsored goons and the Orissa state government, this resistance has remained peaceful, and even today, while contingents of armed police are vandalising people’s houses and have absolutely needlessly opened fire on protesting women of Chandia village, the adivasi people of the area have remained restrained and stuck to democratic means of protest.
Police – joined by Tata goons and BJD cadres – have kept the entire areas under siege for more than a month now. Today’s firing and killing in Kalinganagar once again proves that the administrative decisions of the Navin Pattnaik government in Orissa are dictated by corporate priorities and that the state government can go to any extent to trample democratic values in order to keep its corporate masters happy.
As we issue this statement, police terror in Kalinganagar continues. Apart from Lakshman Jumud’s death by police firing, at least 10 villagers including women are injured with multiple bullet injuries; some of them are in a critical state. Considering that at least three adivasis had died since the siege due to lack of access to medical care, we are gravely concerned about the injured persons still trapped there.
On behalf of the National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers (NFFPFW) we condemn this systematic and all-out offensive by the Orissa government against non-violent and democratic people’s movements in corporate interests. No nation that calls itself a democracy can condone and allow such behaviour. We demand that the Orissa government immediately withdraw its police forces from Kalinganagar and, take immediate steps to provide medical aid to the injured and initiate punitive proceedings against police personnel and Tata goons responsible for today’s Chandia incident.
As we write this, some distance away, in Jagatsingpur district, platoons of armed police are gathering to pounce on villagers protesting against the proposed POSCO steel plant. It is shocking to note that peaceful and democratic protests are under attack from the state. We strongly condemn such excess by the state.
We also urge the Government of India to intervene in this matter and ensure that the lives and livelihoods of the country’s citizens are not sacrificed in order to placate corporate predators.
We call upon people all across the country to join hands with the adivasis and forest dwellers of Kalinganagar to put up a concerted resistance against the police-corporate terror.
Lakshman Jamud, aged between 50-55, has been killed in the police firing at Chandia today while two women have been seriously injured. One of the women, Jema, aged 32 and unmarried has been seriously injured with reports indicating that 6 bullets have hit her waist. The other woman Basanti Bankiri, aged 30, is married and has 4 children. Her legs are injured.
The police and media is trying to manipulate the case. One TV channel first said the man has committed suicide and now it is not mentioning his death. Police is spreading false information... Sources say most local media persons had been taken to Puri by Tata on Sunday where a deal was made to manipulate news from Kalinga Nagar which is evident now... Lakshman Jamuda's body has been taken by the police for post mortem and they are trying to fudge the report...
This is mayhem and the state must be pressurized to stop such brutalities on women/people. May I urge people in this list to please call up the CM office and force them to act immediately. Also call the DM and SP for whatever they are worth. They are the crusaders along with the CM and HM for all this brutal and utterly undemocratic nature of the state's behavior on its people.
This must stop...and the state must be asked in no uncertain terms about the criminal action by itself on its own people - why is it showing such desperation for a corporate raj? where is the democratic space left for raising a voice a dissent. people in Kalinganagar do no want to part ways with their land, livelihood and their space - period. How can the state inflict such continuous brutal action on them???
In shock,
Mamata
mamata68@gmail.com
Kalinga Nagar: Chandia people's anger is reaching the tipping point as all houses on Anabadi land are threatened to be demolished
'Goondaism' is the real ideology of the Govt in Kalinga Nagar. At 7.30 AM Chandia village was quiet but prepared for yet another long day of repression & humiliation. By 9 AM police forces arrived to carry on with the demolition because the real agenda of this mission is yet to be accomplished, i.e. to provoke the people. And it seems the masterminds of repression are losing their patience because in what seems to be a planned strategy to push the people towards a final showdown, the police is trying all sorts of tricks to start a fight. Firstly they bullied the people into not assembling where they have been doing so since day before yesterday because the police forces have decided to assemble at that particular place. Then people from neighboring villages like Gobarghati and Baligotha were on their way to stand by Chandia people but the police stopped them midway. And then the final part of the strategy was played out as houses of people who have not been displaced were targeted for demolition, and ultimately it was declared that all houses not having record of rights ((which tribal people rarely have) would be demolished. The simmering anger of the people has reached a boiling point today. They have been pushed to the point of desperation and the blame for any untoward eventuality will not rest entirely on the proponents of State goondaism but also on the cowardly silence of the opposition parties and the media.
Chief Minister Orissa: Fax - 0674-2590833, Tel: 0674-2401100(office), 0674-2590299 (residence)
In the name of demolishing houses of displaced persons, the resisting villagers of Chandia are being now terrorised almost regularly by large contingents of police forces. Villagers believe that the houses are being demolished slowly so that the police can keep coming back to the village to provoke them and find a reason to attack them. Since yesterday some eight odd houses are being demolished at a snail's pace while Police forces keep an eye for the slightest pretext to lash out at the resisting villagers. In yesterday's lathi charge Garkha Barla sustained serious injuries in his limbs and lower back. He has returned to Chandia today.
Meanwhile heavy police deployment is being planned around the villages opposing the POSCO steel plant. Sources say that a high-level meeting was held yesterday at Paradip where it was decided that at least 8 platoons would be mobilised today to disrupt the protest sit-in at Balitutha where 300-350 villagers have been protesting every day since 26 January. It is being feared that within the next 2 days the Govt is planning on a major Police offensive in the area with police already being strategically deployed around the resistance villages.
Sources say that one of the masterminds behind the Police action in Kalinga Nagar as well as Jagatsinghpur is the tainted I.A.S. officer Priyabrata Patnaik, MD of IDCO and the former Nodal Officer for the POSCO project who had been relieved from all charges for almost 2 years for alleged involvement in a high profile murder case. He is the same person who had made the infamous statement to media, 3 years when goons had hurled bombs at peaceful women protestors at Bailtutha, that "the people have been taught a lesson and will not dare to raise their voice again. It seems he has been brought back to teach the people some more lessons in repression.
And while people of Kalinga Nagar and Jagatsingpur are taught many lessons there seems to be not even a whimper of protest from the opposition parties. Their silence is rather a sign of support for the corporate friendly CM of Orissa, Naveen Patnaik and that they are complicit in this corporate assault on people's land, forest and water.
Kalinga Nagar: Police Lathi charges in Chandia village
today
On the 6th of May, the large contingent of police had stayed out of Chandia village when villagers strongly opposed them from entering the village (see below) and only a small group was allowed to enter the village and demolish the displaced people's houses. There was no untoward incident reported that day but four days later a large contingent of armed security forces arrived again today morning to demolish more houses of the displaced. Villagers opposed this as they had struck a deal on the 6th that all demolition jobs were to be done with by the end of that day. Then the police resorted to lathi charge at a crowd made of men, women and children. Many people have sustained injuries and one Garkha Barla, aged between 30-35, has been seriously injured and taken to a hospital by the police. The demolition has begun and the village is besieged by fear of more violence by the Police.
Today morning a large contingent of armed forces have reached Chandia village where people have threatened to commit mass suicide if they are forced out. Despite yesterday's meeting where thousands of people gathered to protest against forceful land acquisition the Govt has responded to the people by sending armed forces again. Yesterday the leaders of the Bisthapan Birodhi Jan Manch had clearly stated that they were not protesting against any particular company or industry but against the loss of their land and livelihood. Please appeal to the Chief Minister of Orissa to stop this cruel treatment of the people and pushing them towards mass suicide.
Monthly Tata Sponsored Devastation of Baligotha village by Govt?
29 April 2010
Today, exactly a month after the savage attack on 30 March by armed forces and Tata goons, a large contingent of armed forces arrived again at Baligotha village alongwith some JCB machines. Then they unleashed another round of devastation upon the village that is yet to recover from the last attack and has also lost two villagers to diseases as they have been cordoned off by Tata goons and the Police. Today, the houses of Purna Banara, Nitendra Palia, Jema Hessa and Tuna Palia was razed to the ground. Also Baligotha's community house and Litu Banara's cattle-shed were demolished. Nitendra Palia has a widowed sister and child who have been unwell for several days and the villagers fear the two will die within a day or so. Now they cannot even die in peace with their home completely demolished. The rest too are now without a roof on their head.
This is part of the demolition drive that the administration started around the 18th of this month after pro-Tata groups staged protests (around 3-4 April '10) in front of Jajpur ADM's office demanding that the belongings of the displaced people be brought from their villages. The District Magistrate had then ordered for heavy police deployment for protection of the displaced people to go back to their villages and collect their belongings and demolish their houses. In a newspaper notice the DM warned that protestors would not be spared. But this was used as a pretext to demolish homes of people refusing displacement.
From Gadapur to Gobarghati the police was used to terrorise villagers and break houses of key members of the Bisthapan BIrodhi Jan Manch like Noti Angarai of Gobarghati and people refusing displacement. In Kalamatia village at least 2 houses of people yet to be displaced was demolished, in Champakoila it was at least 3 houses, in Bandargadia it was 1, in Gobarghati it was 2, so on and so forth. Community houses of Baiduburi & Champakoila alongwith Baligotha have been demolished. Altogether at least 20 houses have been forcefully demolished despite the fact that the Collector had assured that the whole exercise was just for the displaced to collect their belongings. The demolition of people not displaced, community houses, cattle-shed and even tombs is blatant evidence of the Govt's real intentions.
A month long wave of repression that still continues is a sign of the times we live in and the shape of civil society. Leaders of opposition parties are nowhere in the picture after being beaten & chased away by Tata goons & BJD cadre. All along the media remains silent and its unclear if they are mourning or if they have been gagged or they prefer to stay quiet. Like all other pillars of democracy even media in Kalinga Nagar seems to have crumbled. Of course there are a few individuals everywhere doing whatever they can but will that save the tribals of Kalinga Nagar?
Sources say the next target of the Govt is Chandia village and the attack is likely to be executed tomorrow. It is also likely that Nitendra Palia's widowed sister and child lose their lives by tomorrow with no medical care available.
Tata Steel Plant Foundation being laid with Mysterious Murders & Forceful Demolitions in Kalinga Nagar
23 April 2010
Late night yesterday villagers of Gadapur in Kalinga Nagar heard the sound of a tractor approaching. They were alarmed it might be the police again as in the last one week some 20-odd houses in the village have been demolished by the District Administration & Industrial Development Corporation of Orissa under heavy police deployment. The reason is that these houses belong to people who agreed to be displaced for the Tata factory and as per the Resettlement & Rehabilitation Policy they will not be given new houses until their old houses are demolished. But the tractor yesterday had come for some other reason and never reached the village. Whatever the reason was the people manning the tractor were secretive about it and didn't even switch on the headlamp.
In the morning migrant workers from the nearby slums were collecting firewood when they discovered a dead body near Gadapur. This is where the villagers had noticed the tractor the night before. The deceased is Rasananda Patra, about 40-years old and a Dalit trolley puller from the Dalit hamlet Bandragadia located about 200-300 meters from Gadapur. Bandragadia hamlet no longer exists since a few days ago as it has been completely demolished. All 20 families living there had decided to be displaced except for one Sarat Patra who had not agreed to displacement but his house was nevertheless demolished. Sarat now lives in a makeshift leaf hut he has built where his house once stood. Many people who are refusing displacement have faced the same fate as Sarat. Yesterday, out of the 7 houses demolished in Champakoila village 3 were forcefully demolished while 2 days ago in Kalamatia village 2 houses were forcefully demolished. The people are aware that this is a provocation from the administration and therefore have not fallen prey yet. In the demolition drive today at Gobarghati, Nati Angarai's house was forcefully demolished because he happens to be a leader of the Bisthapan Birodhi Jan Manch (BBJM). BBJM is a local non-violent & democratic tribal outfit opposing displacement for the last 5 years despite 14 people being killed in a police shooting on 2nd Jan 2006.
The mystery of the cause of Rasananda's death might be solved after the post-mortem but its hard to understand how his dead body reached Bandragadia when he should have been in Tata's transit camp. Maybe the mystery is not difficult to crack if one were to consider another murder case in the recent past. That of Sridhar Soy, a contractor engaged in petty works for Tata at Bhitar Manika. He was found dead in a forest with his motorbike and a case was registered against the leaders of the BBJM. Many people randomly arrested from markets, roads, hospitals and during the midnight raids on the villages in the last few months have been implicated in this case. But they mystery has hardly been solved. Sridhar Soy belongs to Masakia village located some 7 km away from the controversial site of the Tata plant where the Bisthapan Birodhi Jan Manch villages are located. There was no previous altercation between BBJM & Sridhor Soy, not even any communication. Sridhar Soy was a Tata contractor operating in a different area. How could villagers of the BBJM whose movement is terribly restricted by the police, BJD cadre and TATA goons manage to kill him and dispose his body in jungle far away from their villages? Then why would BBJM activists resort to murder of a contractor when they are involved in a movement of a different nature raising issues related to land, livelihood and displacement? Would it not weaken their movement that has received widespread support after the 2nd Jan massacre?
At the same time while several people have been arrested in the Sridhar Soy murder case not a single arrest has been made in the Amin Banara murder case or the Jogendra Jamuda attempt to murder case though Jogendra Jamuda himself has been arrested. Jogendra was shot at while driving his motorbike with his mother in front of the Kalinga Ngr police station by unknown assailants. Amin Banara was killed in a shooting on 1st May '08 by Arbind Singh, a Tata contractor and his associates. Arbind Singh was actually gunning for Dabur Kalundia, a leader of the BBJM who has been targeted in another attack in his village some months ago. Arbind Singh was arrested that very day while he was trying to flee the area but released three months later and sources say he is now cooling his heels in the air-conditioned environs of Fortune Towers in Bhubaneswar.
So the mystery of Rasananda's death last night might not be a mystery at all judging the recent history of murder cases in Kalinga Nagar. Villagers of Gadapur say that Rasananda was personally opposed to displacement and had been coerced by others to leave Bandragadia. Why he was killed and dumped in the land he never wanted to leave can evoke many wild guesses but foul play seems for sure and that foul play has an uncanny resemblance to the Sridhar Soy murder case. Amidst all this those responsible to investigate and solve the mysteries are openly biased against the BBJM. Sources say the SP of Jajpur has threatened the journalists of three mainstream media houses to not go to the BBJM villages. The media camps are also openly divided into pro-people and pro-Tata camps. Rumours abound in the area that the SP has a stake in the industrialisation process and that he has a relative who is complicit with the mining mafia in Keonjhar. Though these are charges that might be impossible to prove the SP himself has proved that he is capable of executing operations like 30 March '10 where armed security forces and Tata goons unleashed a brutal medieval-style invasion upon Baligotha village on the pretext of dealing with opposition by the villagers for the construction of the Common Corridor road project. They destroyed foodstocks, killed cattle, stole lifestock, destroyed valuables, looted money, set property afire and injure at least 40 people by firing rubber bullets and plastic pellets. After that the villagers were denied any kind of medical assistance. Then there are many more like the Jajpur SP involved in the rape of Kalinga Nagar who have a tainted history like the MD of IDCO, Priyabrat Patnaik who was stripped of all duties for a couple of years for being involved in a high profile murder case in Bhubaneswar. He is known to be one of the masterminds behind the attack on peaceful women protestors in the proposed POSCO site in 2007.
Where does the common man's quest for justice feature here? What about Sikur Kalundia, Balema Goipai and Ghanshyam Kalundia, all of whom died for lack of medical attention because their villages have been cordoned off from the rest of the world by police, Tata goons and BJD cadre?? Does that not amount to murder?? And What happened to the judicial probe into the 2nd Jan massacre that claimed 14 lives?? What happened to Amin Banara's murderers?? Who attacked Jogendra Jamuda? Why were Dabur Kalundia's attackers released? Who really killed Sridhar Soy?? And now, Rasananda, who killed him and dumped him in Bandragadia while he should have been in the transit camp? Will the BBJM be again framed?? It seems the foundations for the Tata Steel project shall bury many such mysteries, deaths & demolished homes. The BBJM though is gearing up to live upto its claim that they will rather die than leave their land.
Kalinga Nagar: Reign of Terror Continues
5 April 2010
Today a man from Gobarghati village died from cerebral malaria as he could not receive any medical aid on time due to the prevailing situation in Kalinga Nagar where the police, BJD cadre and Tata goons are not allowing anyone to come out or enter the villages resisting the Tata Steel factory and the Common Corridor road. There is huge tension in the area after the state BJD chief and India's former tribal affairs minister, Jual Oram was attacked and his vehicles was vandalised. Two journalists, Amulya Pati and Manas (sambad) were also attacked and their cameras were snatched away. The journalists were rushed to the nearby hospital where they were given first-aid and are safe now. A medical team carrying medicines and other necessary supplies has just managed to enter the villages. Jual Oram is adressing the press at 4.30PM in Bhubaneswar. While this is happening in Kalinga Nagar, some journalist for ANI has decided to declare that peace has been restored in the area. It is clear from the report itself that the reporter doesn't even know anything about ground reality and is talking about some imaginary town called Kalinga Nagar. K Ngr is the name of a huge area landmarked as an industrial estate to setup steel projects. Then the report also says that people have put off their protests... This particular piece was posted 16 hours ago on the net and now it remains to be seen whether how the ANI reporter will react to the news of the attack on the scribes. Fellow journalists should take special note of this report that misinformed the world and is most likely sponsored by Tata or the Govt while two journalists are getting beaten up by goons. And to remind everyone, the videographer who was shooting the police attack on 30 March was specially targetted by the police and shot at with rubber bullets. The bottomline is that every pillar of democracy has now been completely demolished in Kalinga Nagar.
URGENT: DEMOCRACY BUTCHERED IN KALINGA NAGAR AS POLICE FORCEFULLY INVADES VILLAGES
30 March 2010
On March 28,2010 the Bisthapan Birodhi Jan Manch leaders and villagers welcomed Jajpur District Collector and had a discussion with him on the controversial common corridor though they knew it very well the district administration had other motives. After talks with activists of Bisthapan Birodhi Jan Manch and more than 300 villagers the Collector assured them that there would be no construction activity for the Common Corridor Road till the matter is resolved through dialogue. But the administration has gone back on its words. They started the work yesterday and made a huge media publicity of the event to provoke people. In today's newspapers the SP has said 'protestors will not be spared' and the Collector is saying "construction of the road will happen at any cost."
This gave the manch no other alternative but to protest. But today 29 platoons of armed police with 60 officers and hundreds of BJD and Tata goons reached the place of dispute. They first denied media any entry to the place and the started attacking the peacful protesters. Many have been injured including women and children as indisciminate rubber bullet firing and lathi charge has taken place. They have entered the villages and unleashed a reign of terror. The villagers have tremendous patience and are still resisting peacefully. The area has become a war zone and more than a dozen people including women and children have been seriously injured.
This is being carried out under the supervision of IG Special Operations, Arun Sadangi. Despite Sec 144 being imposed in the area large number of Tata supporters, BJD cadre have assembled at the site and are giving instructions to the police. All people who have a conscience must act now as democracy in Kalinganagra is being butchered in the most vulgar manner and the political and bureaucratic leadership of the state have completely sold themselves to the Tatas. There has been absolutely not even a murmur of protest from any of the mainstream political party leaders which signifies the absolute power Tata wields over them. Just now reports reach us suggesting that firing has started in Baligootha village and where about of the leaders are not known.
One person, Member Kalundia received bullet wounds in the chest and legs... Police has demolished houses and set them ablaze... Cattle have been indiscriminately shot at... Two days before Orissa Day the Govt celebrates with a bloodbath...
The police vacated the village but gathered about half a kilometer away in front of Rohit Ferro Chrome Factory where the construction of the common corridor road is to begin... All houses have been ransacked... foodstocks set afire... televisions, radios, etc have been destroyed... the girl who was beaten up by police has been admitted to the hospital... its not clear yet how many have been arrested but some 20-30 people have sustained serious injuries in the attack...
Goa is mostly known for being a top tourist destination, but away from the coast mining is the major industry, and it is severely impacting local water. Click here for video.
Forest Tribes Lose Rights
For video on takeover of tribal forest spaces by the Indian Forest Department click the links here.
