Rourkela: Tension prevailed at Koel Nagar here when the district administration started land acquisition for a sewage treatment plant Thursday.
The process has started to set up the treatment plant with a capacity of 8 million/litre a day on 4.32 acres of abandoned land, belonging to the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP). Local tribals staked their claim on the land.
Hundreds of families from 32 mouza displaced by RSP strongly opposed the land acquisition bid by the administration.
The tribals said they had earlier handed over this land to the RSP while the National Commission for ST had directed the RSP to give back the land lying unused.
Despite this directive, the RSP authorities have been ignoring it. How the RSP could hand over the abandoned land to the state government without their knowledge, they asked.
Police, tehsildar and the RSP officials tried to pacify the tribals. As the tribals squatted on the land, the officials had to return without acquisition.
PNN