In a shameless and barbaric move several platoons of Odisha police entered Dhinkia village with total disregard to democracy and all constitutional norms. They forcibly broke the wooden barricade and prevented us to go to our betel vines in the morning. As villagers gathered in large number and opposed their way, the police lathi-charged injuring about 30 villagers, some of them are women and children. The Odisha government led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is using force on people to drive them out of their land and hand over the same to the Jindal Steel World (JSW) Ltd.
They have arrested five to six of our people including our leader Debendra Swain and visiting activist Narendra Mohanty who had gone there to assess the situation. Some of our villagers are also missing.
As known the police is camping outside the village for last more than one month and has beaten our people on earlier occasion when we opposed their attempt to enter the village and do forceful acquisition of our land by dismantling our betel vines which have been our source of livelihood for generations.
In this times when the Omicron variant and Delta variant of the Coronavirus are spreading like wild fire, such a move is brining unwanted danger to our villagers forcing us to gather in large numbers.
We the villages are determined to continue our democratic struggle and not cede an inch of our mother land. We from Jindal Pratirodh Sangram Samiti demand immediate and unconditional release of our people, withdraw the police force from our area and withdraw false cases clamped against us.
We appeal the National Human Rights Commission and the National Child Rights Portection Committee (NCPCR) to visit our village and take note of the human rights and child rights violations done by the government.
As the police atrocities are on the rise we appeal all the concerned citizens to express solidarity to the demands of Jindal Pratirodh Sangram Samiti. And write to and tweet to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the Jagatsighpur district Collector Ms.Parul Patawari.
Twitter handle of PM, Shri Narendra Modi: @PMOIndia
Twitter handle of CM, Naveen Patnaik: @CMO_Odisha
Contact Jagatsingpur District Collector:Phone no: 06724-220379, Email: [email protected]
Kindly circulate this mail widely.
Hoping for your continuous support and solidarity, I remain.
Prashant Paikray Spokesperson, Jindal Pratirodh Sangram Samiti
E-Mail – [email protected]
