Tilia oustees vow ‘befitting reply’ to BJD

JHARSUGUDA: Days before the Election Commission announced the General Elections, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on March 1 inaugurated the expansion project of IB Thermal Station under under Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) at Banharpali.The commissioning of two more units of the power station has taken power generation to 1,740 MW, helping Odisha’s efforts to become a power surplus state.

However, the expansion has become a poll issue in the region with villagers of Tilia in Lakhanpur block, that comes under the Brajarajnagar Assembly seat, up in arms against the State Government and BJD. The villagers have alleged that the the OPGC acquired the land for construction of ash ponds of the new units without holding the mandatory Palli Sabha, Gram Sabha or conducting the social impact assessment study.
The villagers had protested the forceful land acquisition on several occasions. The protest had turned violent on October 30,2016 when they  burnt a vehicle carrying officials of Odisha State Pollution Control Board.

After failing to acquire the land amicably, OPGC acquired 277.30 acres of rayati land by making civil deposit (deposit of compensation amount in court) for construction of the ash ponds. Government deployed 20 platoons of armed force and began construction of the ponds in Tilia in April 2017.
With no other way out, villagers demanded `25 lakh per acre of land and permanent job for 184 members of the affected families. Finally, they were provided `12 lakh per acre of land but without any job for the land oustees.

A villager of Tilia, Dubraj Pradhan, whose three acres of land has been acquired, said they received peanuts against their valuable land. Terming forceful land acquisition as infringement of fundamental rights, he said OPGC and the State Government were acting like a land mafia. The result will be visible in the forthcoming elections, he warned.The Brajarajnagar seat was won by BJP in 2014.