Villagers protest boundary wall construction at Gitanjali Gems Park

Cuttack: Tension prevailed at Ramdaspur Panchayat under Baranga Tehsil in Cuttack district today when some villagers resisted construction of a boundary wall at the Gitanjali Gems Industrial Park by the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO).

As part of protest, several locals, including women, under the banner of the Adivasi Adhikar Manch partially razed the semi-constructed boundary wall.

The villagers alleged that the state government is taking away lands from poor Dalits, Adivasis and traditional forest dwellers and handing over the same to IDCO. They further demanded to stop the construction of the boundary wall immediately.

Meanwhile, two platoons of police forces were deployed to avoid any untoward incident during their protest.

It may be mentioned here that IDCO had acquired the land after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone for setting up the Gitanjali Gems Industrial Park in 2016.