By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/SUNDARGARH: Tens of thousands displaced people on Saturday clashed with police at Jamkhani open cast coal mines owned by Vedanta Group in Hemgir block of Sundargarh district in Odisha.
Despite deployment of heavy security for Bhoomi Pujan in 10 acre area of the mining block, locals confronted with police leading to scuffle. Rajgangpur MLA C S Raazen Ekka reached the spot. The area where the mining project is located, Sundargarh, is also the Parliamentary seat of former tribal affairs minister, Jual Oram, a senior BJP MP.
Villagers of Jamkhani, Giriseema, Jharpalam and Mendra have been demanding settlement as per provisions laid down by the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 but the district administration had reportedly made it clear that this won’t be possible as the displaced people had already been compensated for their land after acquisition by Bhusan Steel and Power Ltd (BSPL) in 2006. But the mining block got de-allocated following a Supreme Court order in 2014. Since the people displaced had been poorly compensated and their claims have been unresolved till now, resentment had been building up among them.
Vedanta Group is to extract 2.6 million tons per annum of minerals from the Jamkhani coal block. Jamkhani, which has 114 million tons of mineral reserves, was awarded to Vedanta Group in February 2020, nearly six years after the Supreme Court cancelled its allocation. It was amongst the 214 coal blocks deallocated vide the apex court’s September 2014 judgement. Before the de-allocation, the coal block was owned by another corporate behemoth, Bhushan Power & Steel Limited (BSPL).
