Police fire rubber bullets at KNIC, 6 hurt

The Kalinganagar Industrial Complex (KNIC) in Orissa's Jajpur district witnessed police firing once again in the wee hours of Tuesday, reliving memories of the gory incident of January 2, 2006 which had claimed the lives of 14 tribals.

The incident took place at 4:30 am today at Baligotha village within the KNIC area when six platoons of police force entered the village to rein in a horde of around 200 tribals opposing the construction of a common industrial corridor.

Construction work on the common corridor, perceived to the lifeline of KNIC, has come to a grinding halt for the past three days due to protests by the tribals stated to be the supporters of Visthapan Virodhi Jana Manch (VVJM), the organization spearheading the protest against industrialization in the area.

Police forces fired rubber bullets at the tribals, who armed with traditional weapons, were pelting stones at the police.

No casualty was reported even though six tribals sustained minor injuries.

D S Kuttey, the Jajpur superintendent of police said, “Six tribals have sustained minor injuries in their clash with the police forces. Thirteen platoons of police forces have been deployed at the area to prevent any flare up.”

Both the Jajpur superintendent of police and the additional district magistrate Ranjit Mohanty have been camping at the site.

Dhiren Kumar Das, the Jajpur district collector said, no person has been arrested in connection with the incident and the situation is under control.

However, Rabindra Jarika, secretary, VVJM said, a tribal supporting VVJM has been arrested by the police.

“The administration is forcibly carrying out the construction of the common corridor on private land. We will oppose this illegal activity tooth and nail”, he alleged.

The construction of the common industrial corridor is being done by the state owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco). Idco had acquired private land for this road in 1995 and later transferred it to the Jajpur Cluster Development Ltd.

The common corridor which is set to give big boost to the process of industrialization at KNIC would touch three existing industrial units in the region- Rohit Ferrotech Ltd, Dinabandhu Steel & Power Ltd and Maithon Industries Ltd.