Slain protester Eto Ekka hailed as martyr in tribal procession through Rourkela; more trouble in store for admin

ROURKELA: Hailing slain protester Eto Ekka as a martyr, thousands of tribals including women and children took his body in a procession through the Rourkela ring road on Tuesday.

Ekka (37) was crushed to death under the wheels of a JCB excavator while opposing the construction of a new rail line project of the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) at Barkani near Bondamunda on Saturday.

After autopsy, the body was carried in a hearse through the ring road while the tribals marched on foot chanting slogans ‘Saheed Eto Ekka Amar Rahe’ (long live martyr Eto Ekka) and ‘Desh Bhar Ke Adiwasi Mulwasi Ek Ho’ (tribal and native people across the country unite). Ekka’s body was buried near the accident site at Barkani as per Christian rituals, said panchayat samiti member of Bondamunda Rabi Majhi.

Identification of Ekka as a martyr and the attempt to send across message to other tribal communities across the country to unite against displacement and injustice come as a fresh worry for the Sundargarh administration and the RSP.

Sources said a section of the disenchanted tribal people have been at loggerheads with the administration, RSP and South Eastern Railway (SER) over displacement issues and lack of rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) benefits. These tribal villagers are staunch supporters of the PESA movement and have been demanding ‘self-rule’. They indiscriminately oppose all development projects on the premise that tribal people have natural rights on ‘Jal, Jungle, Jameen’ (water, forest and land).

In the past decade, Sundargarh has seen law and order situations on several occasions with police and administrative officers stopped from entering so-called ‘liberated zones’ having self-rule of tribals. The fresh development in most likelihood would invigorate the PESA movement, said the sources.

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) on Monday issued notice to the Sundargarh collector, Rourkela SP, SAIL chairman and RSP director-in-charge to file report on the death of Ekka in a month. The NCST said non-compliance may lead to summons for personal appearance.