Chandikhole: Scores of tribals living in Bairi panchayat under Barchana block of Jajpur district are a distressed lot as they have not been provided with land pattas under Forest Rights Act (FRA). The tribals have expressed their resentment over the fact that M/s My Home Industries Pvt Ltd, which is going to establish its cement factory in the area, will be provided with 80 acres of land, but they are still deprived of records of rights for small patches of land where they have been living for generations. The State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) and the district administration held a public hearing August 5 at Bairi to get the approval of locals for the project.
Scores of locals and people’s representatives supported it. However, there was not a single word about the demands of tribals who opposed the incident and took out a protest rally. They alleged that they were even not allowed to attend the public hearing. The cement plant will come up in Bagau and Jhatiapada mouza of Bairi panchayat.
As many as 45 tribal families have been living in the area for over 30 years. But they have been unsuccessfully running from pillar to post to get pattas for a gunth of their dwelling place. “We have been struggling for survival as well as land pattas, but nobody is listening to us,” they said. Upset over the administrative callousness, they have written a letter to newly-elected President Draupadi Murmu about their plight. In the letter, they pointed out that Dalmia cement plant is already operating in their area. Before the establishment of the cement factory, the administration and the company authorities had promised them a slew of developmental activities.
However, all that was done is lighting facilities and that too became defunct a few months later. Lighting systems were later removed. “We neither have a school nor a health centre in the locality. An Agnanwadi is set up at Jhatiapada, which is situated on the other side of a railway line. Our children fear to cross the railway line to study in the school,” they lamented. They also said that they had urged the Darpanigarh tehsildar and the Jajpur Collector to issue pattas for their dwelling places, but to no avail. On the other hand, the cement factory will be set up in their area and the government will provide land for it, they pointed out in the letter. ”We have to face displacement, even though we have been residing on the land over three decades. We have no way out, but written a letter to the President about our plight. We hope she would take steps for resolution of our issues,” they said.