Paradip, March 3: A deceptive calm prevailed in Posco steel project villages a day after bomb blasts killed three persons and the district administration restarted project-related work.
Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), the outfit opposing the project, demonstrated at Patana village and described yesterday’s incident as “administration-sponsored killing of unarmed and innocent people”. Police said the explosions occurred when crude country bombs were being manufactured in the area.
The village wore a deserted look because a number of people, mainly those opposing the Posco project, fled and headed towards Dhinkia, their stronghold. There was also a sense of panic over police crackdown.
Despite the tense situation, the authorities acquired about an acre of forestland by dismantling three betel vineyards in Gobindpur. The landlosers were paid Rs 10.45 lakh on the spot, an official said.
Police officials said those killed and injured in last night’s blast were adept in handling explosives. Circumstantial and material evidences gathered from the blast site indicate that the victims were manufacturing bombs.
“Prima-facie evidence points clearly at illegal bomb-making. The explosives were crude in nature. A bag of gunpowder has been recovered from the site. Chemicals such as ammonium nitrate and razor blades were also found. It could be conclusively construed that manufacturing of crude country bombs was going on with professional expertise,” said Jagatsinghpur SP Satyabrata Bhoi, adding that a case under Indian Explosive Act and other provisions of Indian Penal Code has been filed.
However, PPSS maintained the blast was the handiwork of goons hired by government officials and Posco. “It is a dastardly murder perpetrated under the sponsorship of civil and police administration and Posco personnel. It was a sinister design to demoralise the ongoing resistance movement,” said PPSS chief Abhaya Sahu.
Jagatsinghpur collector Satya Kumar Mallick dismissed the charges. “Sahu and his outfit members have a notorious track record of using innocent people as human shields and engineer violence to arrest attention. Yesterday’s incident was the outcome of such a plan to create disturbances as we had planned to resume land acquisition work,” he said.
Bereaved family members differed from the official stand. “My husband was at the place with some of his friends. Some unknown persons came on motorcycles and lobbed bombs at them,” Hemalata Sahu, widow of one of a deceased, Narahari Sahu, said.
