Villagers paralyse two MCL mines at Talcher

By Bijay Kumar RoutAngul, June 27: As Mahanadi Coalfields Limited refused to call off the termination of 127 villagers of Hensmul, the aggrieved villagers today paralysed Ananta and Bhubaneswari coalmines at Talcher demanding either reinstating them or return the agricultural land acquired by the company for mining.The two coalmines together produce nearly one lakh tonne of coal and dispatch same amount of coal per day, according to a senior MCL official here.Holding the MCL responsible for these losses, a village leader Parsuram Sahu said they went for mines bandh due to anti-villagers’ stand of the company which stuck to its stand to shift from village without providing alternative land for resettle.“Where to go when there is no suitable land for us to live after losing all lands for the coalmines.All talks failed and even a letter by Odisha Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick to MCL chief to withdraw termination order yielded no result.We are fighting for sustenance after losing all land, so ESMA which is in force in Talcher cannot be applicable to us since it is not a law and order problem,” he asserted.“We are still on move to have an amicable settlement over the issue between the villagers and MCL even after a series of meetings were held to solve the tangle.We are trying to avoid any unpleasant situation even if there is ESMA in force .The district administration is in touch with all the stake holders to find out an early solution,” said District Collector Sachin Ramachandra Jadhav who keeps a vigil on the situation.The situation is tense as it may spread over other areas of Talcher as people are deeply dismayed over MCL for its lackadaisical attitude in the matter of rehabilitation and resettlement issues.What is disappointing to all is the absence of any role by people’s representatives who before the elections were active in this matter.MCL in a press release said that the strike by villagers is uncalled for and unjustified and it would hamper coal supply to the power sector in the nation.The tension between the villagers and MCL started after MCL dismissed 127 of Hensmul villagers from job they got under rehabilitation measures for not vacating their home stead land for mining.It claimed to have fulfilled all including jobs under the state policy.Villagers protested the action saying that when do not have any suitable land to shift how the company can force them to leave the village.Since then the villagers asked for the end to the termination and demanded a particular patch of land which the company refused.The deadlock persisted even after talks and the villagers stopped the mines on Friday as last resort.