Tension at the Jindal Steel Kalinganagar plant

Tension prevailed outside the proposed 1.6 million tonne integrated stainless steel project of JSL Ltd at Kalinganagar near Duburi in Jajpur distrcit due to a clash between the stone pelting workers and security personnel.

The irate workers threw stones and damaged 4 buses of the company including one air-conditioned bus. One constable and two security guards were also injured in the melee.

The police reached the spot and tried to dissuade the workers from indulging in violent activities. However, when persuasion failed, it resorted to mild lathi charge to disperse the unruly workers. Thirteen persons were arrested by the police in the incident before the situation was brought under control. The Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Jajpur B B Mallik and Inspector-In-Charge (IIC) B N Samal are camping at the site, official sources said.

The incident started in the morning when some contract workers came to the main gate of the plant and didn’t allow other workers to enter the plant. They protested the decision of the management not to allow the entry of the two wheelers into the plant and demanded banning the entry of four wheelers as well.

“It was a planned incident by some vested interest and we are thankful to the district administration for their prompt support”, Rajdeep Mohanty, chief resident manager, JSL said.

It may be noted, the JSL plant authorities had introduced the free bus service for all workers in the plant from 1 August. The two wheelers were not allowed inside the plant area for the safety of the two wheeler riders as two months back one worker met with an accident while driving in high speed inside the plant area.

Since all the internal concrete roads are four-laned, rash driving on part of workers and non-use of helmets while driving were causing accidents and problems for the management. Similarly, some vested interests used to enter the plant site and indulged in collection of money from the contractors.

To get rid of these unwanted problems, the management had various rounds of discussion with the employees, contractors, workers engaged by the contractors. Accordingly, parking facilities were created at the main gate of the plant from where the company buses were to carry the employees and contractual workers inside the plant. The district administration was informed about the new transport system inside the plant area.