Uproar In Orissa House Over Gopalpur Firing

The police firing on the people opposed to the proposed mega steel project of Tisco at Gopalpur yesterday created ripples in the Orissa Assembly with the opposition Janata Dal and BJP accusing the government of going Overboard to help the company secure land for the project.

During the discussion on the issue, which cropped up through an adjournment motion, the Dal and BJP members dismissed the government contention about the cause of police firing and demanded a judicial enquiry into the matter to bring out the truth.

Chief Minister J B Patnaik in his reply to the debate stated that the police was forced to open fire on the people at Anantpur, within the site of the proposed steel plant of Tisco, when it was attacked by the locals while on a mission to demolish illicit liquor joints in the area. Stating that the Tisco project had nothing to do with the police action, he said the liquor mafia had instigated the locals to attack the police by spreading rumours that they were accompanying a Tisco survey team.

In the firing that ensued, four people had sustained bullet injuries while 20 others had received minor injuries from lathicharge.

However, dismissing the chief minister contention, senior members like Ramakrihna Patnaik, and Surya Patra from Dal and A N Singhdeo from BJP asked if the motive of the mission been only excise raid, not land survey, what was the purpose of taking an ambulance and a fire brigade with the team, which was led by senior government staff like district collector, sub-collector of the area and additional tehsildar, all responsible for revenue related work. They warned that more than the police action, it is the hiding of the fact from the people which would create serious problems for the administration.

Later state Dal president and leader of the opposition in the Assembly, Ashok Das, senior Dal leader Bijoy Mohapatra and Panchanan Kanungo accused the Tisco of trying to throttle the press in Orissa by filing defamation suits against some newspapers and lodging complaints against some of the correspondents with their respective managements.

The Chief Minister assured the agitated members that he would personally look into the matter to redress their grievances.