Monthly Tata Sponsored Devastation Of Baligotha Village
(Jajpur district) By Government?
By Surya Shankar Dash
30 April, 2010
Sanhati.com
Today, exactly a month after the savage attack on 30 March by armed forces and Tata goons, a large contingent of armed forces arrived again at Baligotha village alongwith some JCB machines. Then they unleashed another round of devastation upon the village that is yet to recover from the last attack and has also lost two villagers to diseases as they have been cordoned off by Tata goons and the Police. Today, the houses of Purna Banara, Nitendra Palia, Jema Hessa and Tuna Palia was razed to the ground. Also Baligotha’s community house and Litu Banara’s cattle-shed were demolished. Nitendra Palia has a widowed sister and child who have been unwell for several days and the villagers fear the two will die within a day or so. Now they cannot even die in peace with their home completely demolished. The rest too are now without a roof on their head.
This is part of the demolition drive that the administration started around the 18th of this month after pro-Tata groups staged protests (around 3-4 April ‘10) in front of Jajpur ADM’s office demanding that the belongings of the displaced people be brought from their villages. The District Magistrate had then ordered for heavy police deployment for protection of the displaced people to go back to their villages and collect their belongings and demolish their houses. In a newspaper notice the DM warned that protestors would not be spared. But this was used as a pretext to demolish homes of people refusing displacement.
From Gadapur to Gobarghati the police was used to terrorise villagers and break houses of key members of the Bisthapan BIrodhi Jan Manch like Noti Angarai of Gobarghati and people refusing displacement. In Kalamatia village at least 2 houses of people yet to be displaced was demolished, in Champakoila it was at least 3 houses, in Bandargadia it was 1, in Gobarghati it was 2, so on and so forth. Community houses of Baiduburi & Champakoila alongwith Baligotha have been demolished. Altogether at least 20 houses have been forcefully demolished despite the fact that the Collector had assured that the whole exercise was just for the displaced to collect their belongings. The demolition of people not displaced, community houses, cattle-shed and even tombs is blatant evidence of the Govt’s real intentions.
A month long wave of repression that still continues is a sign of the times we live in and the shape of civil society. Leaders of opposition parties are nowhere in the picture after being beaten & chased away by Tata goons & BJD cadre. All along the media remains silent and its unclear if they are mourning or if they have been gagged or they prefer to stay quiet. Like all other pillars of democracy even media in Kalinga Nagar seems to have crumbled. Of course there are a few individuals everywhere doing whatever they can but will that save the tribals of Kalinga Nagar?
Sources say the next target of the Govt is Chandia village and the attack is likely to be executed tomorrow. It is also likely that Nitendra Palia’s widowed sister and child lose their lives by tomorrow with no medical care available.
