Kalinganagar police firing victims remembered

KENDRAPADA: Tribals and anti-land acquisition leaders converged at the Martyrs Tower at Ambagadia village in large numbers on the death anniversary of the 14 tribal men and women who were gunned down by police in 2006.
On January 2, 2006, the village, near the Kalinganagar steel hub in Jajpur district, witnessed police firing as tribals were protesting the construction of the boundary wall of the Tata steel plant project.Among those killed were a three women.
On Monday, tribal villagers walked in a procession from Champakoila to Ambagadia and held a meeting at the Tower.
Rabindra Jaraka, the secretary of the Bisthapan Birodhi Jana Mancha (BBJM) said, "The government has so far not explained the reason behind the firing. The state government is only too keen to sign MoUs with the big corporate houses and to practically gift away the best deposits of iron ore as captive mines at a merge amount of royalty. The steel plant was built over the dead bodies of tribal people."
Around 5000 tribals had been displaced for construction of the steel plant. Even though Kalinganagar hosts plants of as many as 14 steel companies, locals who lost their land for the move towards industrialisation have not been able to get jobs there. In the last 11 years, the state government appointed three inquiry commissions to submit a report, after a judiciary inquiry behind the killing of the 14 tribals, but the commission is yet to complete the inquiry.