Saswat Singhdeo

Dhenkanal: In a show of strength hundreds of women of Balarampur village in the district scuffled with police personnel at Jhinkargadi forest protesting cutting of trees for setting up of a beer factory.

According to sources, police personnel forcibly removed the protesters, mostly women, who guarded trees by wrapping their arms around the trees.

Multiple platoons of police forces were deployed at the site in the morning today before tree cutting process began in the wee hours.

Protesting the same cause, a few days back, the villagers, particularly women, were seen guarding the trees inside the forest bringing alive memories of the Chipko movement of the 70s.

As per reports, the proposed beer factory is expected to come up on 600 acre of forest land. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone for the project through video conferencing on November 3.

Though the construction work was scheduled to begin on November 8, it had to be stopped because of the protest by the villagers.

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