Balangir, June 4: Tension gripped Luthurbandh village near Titilagarh for the second day in a row today with nearly 100 villagers opposing officials of Sahara India Power Corporation Limited to conduct a soil test at the proposed thermal power plant site.

Activists of Prakalpa Birodhi Manch said the villagers would not allow any work at the proposed project site because they did not want the plant to come up there. Members of the organisation also alleged that land had been acquired for the project forcibly and illegally.

Police have been deployed in the area to prevent the situation from going out of hand.

On Monday, a team of officials of the proposed 1,320MW thermal power plant project arrived at the site to carry out soil test of the acquired land. As the news spread, nearly 100 villagers, including women and children, thronged the site and tried to stop them.

The company officials and police personnel, who later reached the spot, failed to resolve the matter.

President of Prakalpa Birodhi Manch Balakrishna Sandh alleged that Sahara officials were trying to carry out the soil test on the land that had not been acquired by the company.

“It is strange that there is no information available with the company officials as to how much land had already been acquired by them. They have conflicting figures,” Sandh said.

“There is interim stay of the high court on many of our plots that the company claims to have acquired. Under such circumstances, how can they perform a soil test?” he said.