Log of from Anti-Posco Struggle
Updates From Madhumita, Anivar & many Others .
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7.14 PM: Now we got information abt 2 Activists critically injured with Metal Bullet. Immediate Medical Care is needed for Natha swain (from Nuagan) & Ramesh Das (from dhinkia). They lost a lot of blood so far. All Roads to Anti Posco Villages are blocked & sealed by Police. More than 100 people are Injured , which include women & children. There is no way to get medical support because of the police blockade.
5.15 PM: Kalinga Times Reports Pro Posco people joined the police and hurdled crude bombs at those sitting on dharna.
4.40 PM: Do what you can. Please remember, if police enters the villages (which are now guarded by people and trenches), “it will be our final battle for survival” as PPSS people said to us over phone.
4.12 PM: Prashant just said that the police can enter the villages any moment now, villagers are planning counter strategy if police enters the villages. every road leading to Dinkia, from kujang and paradeep has been sealed off by the police. no one can and go out, over 100 people injured inside.
3. 25 PM: Spoke to Prasanth. Now People are back to villages and Police captured Dharna place. They are expecting attack anytime on villages. And he said Maoists / Kishanji are not part of Anti Posco struggle yet . PPSS does not have any association them. He suspects it is part of a Branding exercise by the state
3.20 PM: cnn ibn reported maoist (kisanji) has called for bandh on 18-19th may! they are running 2nd headline story.
spoke to raja, asking raja or bardhan to go today.
Naveen patnaik giving statement in CNNIBN, saying we want “peaceful industrialisation” what the hell is that ?
D. Raja called to say that Naveen patnaik is not taking his calls!
3.15 PM : The SP, Debodatta Singh, 09437094678 is not answering the phone. The Collector Narayan Jena, 06724- 220199, is not in the office or cannot take phone calls. The ADM (ph: 09937755508) is in the Circuit house and not answering.
The CM’s office (ph: 0674-2531100) directs you to the home secretary. Infact, the person over there refused to speak to me at all saying “law and order is under the Home Secretary” and the CM “doesn’t deal with this.”
The Home secretary, ph: 0674-2531515, is on leave today. His office asks me to call up Special Secretary, amrit mohan prasad 0674 253676, who is an IPS officer dealing with “this issue”.
Special Secretary’s office tells me that he is out on lunch and I should call him back later. (When I say that people might be killed when he is out on lunch, the person at the other end says, “yes, that is a possibility.”)
In any case, let’s keep trying…
2.47 PM : Around 100 Villagers including Women and Children were Heavily injured. Police is now Burning Houses of Villagers
2.44 PM: Balithuta Dharn site (camp) has been burnt down by police, 5 main women activists has been arrested, police is continuing to fire. Oriya channel OTV (BJD channel) is saying people hurled country bombs.
Just so you know, IDCO chairman Priyabrata Patnaik (who was implicated in a murder case) has now been given charge of POSCO and Kalinganagar, he is right hand man of Chief Secy.
2.40 PM: 5 women are arrested . Police captured dharna place. No police are moving towards dhinkia Village to evict people. People resisting strongly . A lot of people injured .
2.36 PM: This is outrageous. NDTV is running a news strip with Naveen Pattnaik’s statement ” We want peaceful industrialisation in the state” and the statement that “protestors are retaliating with crude bombs”
2.34 PM: The SP is just disconnecting the phone as soon as one starts talking. Are there other numbers to call – higher ups of the Police Force? Please let us know mail to anivar.aravind@gmail.com
2.33PM: D. Raja said he knows and is calling again. it seems they are all in a huddle …don’t know what they can discuss at this point! they need to act and go to BBS right now which I have been saying since morning to Raja.
2.25 PM: after rubber bullets, they are now firing with real ones, blank fires in the air to scare people. 15 people injured due to rubber bullets.
police version is,people threw country bombs at the police therefore the forces retaliated! its a lie.
call the DC and SP. call CM’s cell.
2.10 PM: Police action started against Anti-Poso struggle & Dharna . Police started throwing Tear Gas & Rubber Bullets from 100 meter distance. Villagers are not Moving
1.43PM: Prashant called to say that DC and SP are making announcment over microphone right now asking people to disperse immediately or else there will be action taken. call the SP-09437094678-debodatta singh .
In another update, around 50 AIYF & CPI activists protested in Bhubhaneshwar were arrested and released .
10.4 PM : Congress ex-MLA Umesh Swain on his was to Balithuta has just now been detained at Kujang police station. . CPI MP Bibhu Tarai is still detained on Kujang circiut house. There is spontaneous protest happening infront of Paradeep Police station and Kujang against the detentions.
At Balithuta, numbers have swelled up. There are about 3700 villagers facing 1500 or so armed police. Villagers are in no mood to retreat, more people joining from Nuagaon area.
Raja called up to say that CPI state leadership has been instructed not the leave the area. The SP and DC have been told by CPI not to indulge in adventurism and that Naveen Patnaik. Raja will call up Naveen Patnaik in an hour if the forces are not pulled back.
12.09PM: d raja called to say that he has spoken to naveen patnaik again.
11.38M: Police is standing at 20 meter Distance from Anti-posco Dharna. Seems tobe waiting for Orders. Put Pressure on orissa Govt to stop action
10.36 AM: 144 issued in Balithut. police warned people ton leave the place. Police is about to attack within minutes
10.21 AM I called and talked to Debodatta Singh. He seemed rather agitated about people calling and explained at length to me how he understands and respects human rights. He recognized me without my saying so that I am some human rights advocate from New York. He also said he recognizes people’s right to protest, people’s rights to their lands etc, because they are part of democracy. But his job is to make sure that the people who want to go there and take their belonging can do so. If the demonstrators are peaceful, they won’t use force, and at the most arrest them peacefully. I urged him over and over that you’re going in there with such a full force, please don’t use the force unnecessarily and people are only trying to protect their lands.
He was speaking very fast, quite agitated, and it was quite apparent that he has been getting these calls and that may have shaped his rhetoric. Regardless, it is important to call and let them know that people all over the world are watching.
CM office, nobody seems to be there yet, or so I was told.
10.07 AM: D raja just called to say that he has spoken to Naveen Patnaik just now. Naveen patniak told him that he will check what’s going on, and that no force will be used. lets see what happens.
9.45 AM: The chief architect behind Posco and Kalinganagar seems to be Bijoy Patnaik (Chief Secy to CM) and Pyari Mohan Mahapatra, BJD MP. I have asked Raja to speak to them. They are behind all this. Apparently Bijoy Patnaik went to S Korea last month and came back on 3rd May, it was sponsored by POSCO.
9.25 AM: SP’s no-09437094678-debodatta singh
PLS CALL HIM. THEY HAVE COME PREPARED TO USE FORCE AND TOLD US VERY CLEARLY THEY WILL USE IT.
8.57 AM: just got a call, the forces are moving in,anything can happen in next 20 mins. Call DC and SP Jagatsinghpur ASAP
DC is leading the forces in 15 vehicles.
7.00 AM: 6 Police Vans are Moving towards the dharna place in Balithutta. there
are around 600 people in the dharna . Act now and call Govt and Political Leaders
4.00 AM: Bibhu Tarai, MP of Jagatsinghpur from CPI was arrested at today 2AM, on his way to support anti poso struggle
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The Left parties, the CPI(M), CPI, RSP and AIFB met today and issued the following statement
Posco Struggle: Stop Use of Force
The Left parties condemn the firing and the resort to force by the armed police against thousands of men and women who were resisting and blocking the predatory moves of Posco to take over large tracts of fertile land in Jagatsingpur-Paradeep area of Orissa.
Today more that 40 platoons of armed forces were mobilised. They moved down to the Posco site and confronted the thousands of men and women who have been sitting on dharna for the last several months. The armed police resorted to tear gas, lathi charge and fired with rubber bullets in order to disperse the protesters who have now retreated to the villages. This has caused injuries to more than a hundred, including 60 women. The CPI MP of Jagatsingpur was taken into custody the previous night. State CPI and CPI(M) leaders were present on the spot when the firing took place. Canards are being spread by the government that some of the protesters threw bombs. This is a total falsehood.
The people were also protesting against the Posco’s move to have a captive port alongside the existing Paradeep port, which will have an adverse impact on the Paradeep port. Posco is also proposing to have captive iron ore mines instead of purchasing ore from the Orissa Mining Corporation. The proposal of Posco to draw water from the Mahanadi Barrage will seriously affect the irrigation system and also damage the ecological balance in the region. Ignoring all these concerns the Centre and the state governments have been backing Posco in their efforts.
The Left parties demand that the state government stop the use of force against the agitators.
IF THERE IS ANYTHING POSITIVE IN THE POSCO DEAL, WHY DOES NOT THE PRESENT STATE GOVERNMENT HAVE THE COURAGE ENOUGH TO TALK TO THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THE LAND AND CONVINCE THEM ABOUT IT. THE PHYSICAL ACTION ONLY PROVES THE GOVERNMENTS FAILURE TO EARN THE CONFIDENCE OF THE PEOPLE.
AFTER ALL THIS THEY HAVE LOST THE MORAL GROUND TO BLAME THE MOIST FOR VOILENCE.
AS AN UPRIGHT CITIZEN OF THIS COUNTRY I URGENTLY ASK THE ORISSA GOVERNMENT TO STOP THE PRESENT MOVE ON THE COMMON VILLAGES OF THAT AREA.