Nov. 14: Work on the water corridor of the DVC project in Purulia’s Raghunathpur was stopped shortly after resumption today because of protests by a landlosers’ outfit that had earlier promised to allow construction.

The Jomi Suraksha Committee said the central power utility began work without giving them a written assurance that contractual jobs would be provided to the landlosers. After a meeting with the landlosers chaired by industries minister Partha Chatterjee on November 7, DVC chairman R.N. Sen had said contract workers could be taken “according to our requirement”.

The protesters had agreed to allow work from today after the sabhadhipati of the Trinamul-run Purulia zilla parishad, Shristidhar Mahato, held a series of meetings with them, the last being on Tuesday.

The vice-president of the Jomi Suraksha Committee, Nikhil Mondal, who on Tuesday had announced the withdrawal of the agitation, today denied having said so. “Did I say any such thing? I don’t remember. I could not have said this. I could not go to the project site today as I was not feeling well.”

Moments after work on the crucial water corridor at Raibandh began, around 65 landlosers came to the spot at 9.30am in a procession, carrying committee flags.

Committee secretary Sudhir Mondal, who led the procession, said: “We stopped work because we are yet to get a written assurance on jobs at the project site.”

Zilla parishad chief Mahato, who was present at the site since morning, held a meeting with 25 of the protesters. Local Trinamul MLA Purnachandra Bauri was also present.

“It was decided that another meeting will be held with DVC officials on Saturday. The demands of the landlosers will be discussed again. We want work to resume but at the same time, we don’t want anyone to harbour grievances,” Mahato said.

The DVC chief engineer of the project, Debashis Mitra, who had earlier written to the Purulia district magistrate mentioning the possibility of relocating a portion of the project if the administration did not intervene immediately, said today that work would “remain suspended” till the meeting. “I hope work will start soon. We are ready to attend any meeting.”

Minister Chatterjee said he had heard about today’s protest. “I had a word with (MLA) Purnachandra Bauri. I heard that a few people in one mouza created problems today. These people are yet to take their compensation cheques. I have instructed him (Bauri) to sort out the issue so that work on the water corridor can resume as early as possible,” Chatterjee said.

Sujoy Banerjee, a zilla parishad member, said that had the DVC put up at the construction site the minutes of the November 7 meeting where the job demand was discussed, the protest would not have taken place.