Dhinkia ‘acid test’ for ruling BJD as betel farmers unhappy with JSW steel plant land acquisition

Almost all the streets of Dhinkia Gram Panchayat, a bastion of the anti-land acquisition movement in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district, wore a deserted look last week, with temperatures reaching around 40 degrees Celsius.

The political climate in this coastal area is intensifying as major political parties engage in a fierce battle leading up to the Lok Sabha elections on June 1, 2024.

“There was a time when the mention of our Gram Panchayat evoked images of lush mangrove forests, cashew nut, betel vines, fruit-bearing trees and casuarina forests. Today, these verdant visions are fading as thousands of trees have been removed for the construction of a steel plant by South Korean steel company POSCO and JSW Utkal Steel Limited. For miles, all one can see are tree stumps,” said Sankar Mallick, 45, a resident of Dhinkia.

In 2011, authorities cleared large tracks of greenery for POSCO’s proposed steel plant. Six years later, POSCO withdrew its project due to local opposition. However, on February 16, 2024, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone for the JSW Utkal Steel Ltd plant in Dhinkia, with an investment of Rs 65,000 crore. Officials cleared almost all trees for the project, ignoring local protests, leading to increased heat in our village this summer, said Sarat Sahoo, a farmer from Noliasahi.

On January 14, 2022, armed police broke through wooden barricades in Dhinkia to dismantle our betel vineyards. The leaders of JSW Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (JSWPSS) used women and children as shields to block the police and officials. However, the police used batons to disperse the crowd, injuring many, according to Debendra Swain, former Panchayat Samiti Member of Dhinkia.

“We used to make our living by growing betel vines. The officials forcibly dismantled our betel vines. Now, we are in deep trouble. The coming polls are not important for us,” said Bharat Jena, a farmer from Dhinkia.

Another villager, Manorama Khatua, complained that the authorities have already caused an ecological disaster by hastily cutting down thousands of trees and dismantling many betel vine farms at the proposed steel plant site. “Because of this, we will not vote in favour of the ruling party BJD in the coming elections.” 

“We protested against the felling of trees, but the authorities ignored our pleas and used police force. One can see how an ecological treasure has been systematically destroyed, affecting those who rely on it for sustenance. Now, we are facing extreme summer heat,” said Nalinikanta Behera of Dhinkia.

Villagers from Dhinkia, Nuagaon, Gobindpur and Noliasahi under the Balikuda-Erasama Assembly seat are continuing their strong protest against transferring over 1,173.58 hectares of land to JSW Utkal Steel Ltd, following the POSCO India fiasco, which ended in 2016. JSW Utkal Steel Ltd proposed to build a 13.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) crude steel plant, a 900MW captive power plant and a 10 MTPA cement plant along with a 52 MTPA captive jetty at the same location, said Prashant Paikray, spokesperson for the Anti-Jindal & Anti-POSCO Movement. He added: 

The state government, led by Naveen Patnaik, is using every possible means to break our unity and destroy the resistance. The police are acting in a biased and vindictive manner against the protesters, implicating them in false and fabricated cases.

There are estimated to be 80 criminal cases against a thousand people, in addition to over 400 allegedly fabricated cases pending against 2,500 people from the anti-POSCO and JSW movement, he added. “The upcoming polls will be an acid test for the ruling BJD as large numbers of villagers have united to vote against BJD.”

The company’s agents, in collusion with the police, are still arresting villagers and cracking down to benefit the company and seize the community’s land, he observed. “This is not just a struggle for our land, but also a battle for our survival and livelihood.”

The project violates India’s legal frameworks, he pointed out. The non-compliance with the requirement for prior consent of the affected families under Section 2(2)(b) (of the Land Acquisition Act) renders the acquisition process illegal and arbitrary, according to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (LARR) of 2013. If land acquired is not utilised within five years, it must go back to the original landowner.

According to the 2006 Forest Rights Act, the industrial projects diverting protected forest resources need to secure the consent of the impacted communities through resolutions in the Gram Sabhas (village councils). Despite multiple resolutions passed by the Gram Sabhas of Dhinkia and nearby villages against any land transfer, these have been routinely disregarded. Three different official committees — the Saxena Committee, the POSCO Enquiry Committee and the FAC — found that the law was violated in the proposed POSCO area, noted Paikray.

The Odisha government must follow the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Singur issue, where the land bought for the Tata Nano plant was returned to the farmers, added Paikray.

Wherever people are fighting for their livelihoods and dignity against state onslaught, Dhinkia Gram Panchayat, a bastion of the anti-POSCO and Jindal movement, provides inspiration and courage. Over the past two decades, the movement has faced severe state repression, said Prafulla Samantray, president of Lok Shakti Abhiyan.

We oppose the government’s plan to acquire land and betel vines for the JSW steel plant in Dhinkia areas. The state government, in collusion with the company, is trying to displace us from our land and farms, for which we are determined to teach the ruling party a lesson in the upcoming polls, said Bidulata Swain of Dhinkia.

“Under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik, Odisha has seen real development and become a major investment destination for JSW,” said Rajashree Mallick, a senior BJD leader and Member of Parliament from Jagatsinghpur, adding that the industrialisation process in the state has accelerated. “We will always contribute to Odisha’s economic growth. The integrated steel project by JSW Steel at Dhinkia is expected to drive economic growth in the region by fostering a robust ancillary and downstream ecosystem, creating approximately 30,000 direct and indirect jobs, which is why most voters in the Dhinkia region will vote for BJD.”

The Industrial Development Corporation of Odisha has already handed over 2,958 acres of land to JSW for setting up the integrated manufacturing facility, with 30 per cent of the total project land dedicated to preserving forests and water bodies, added Mallick.