BHUBANESWAR | Aug 29, 2016: People of Talcher town in Angul district led by a civil society organization on Monday launched a 48-hour economic blockade in the industrial town seeking fulfillment of 12-point charter of demands including revival of Talcher fertilizer plant and rehabilitation of displaced people of the area.
Activists of the civil body, Talcher Surakshya Manch, staged protests in front of the offices of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) and stopped movement of trucks transporting coal in the mines area. Due to stiff protest, mining activity in eight coal mines of MCL was disrupted. Transportation of coal through trucks, tippers and rail wagons to NTPC and National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) was also affected due to the blockade.
SP (Angul) Kavita Jalan said the police have kept strict vigil on the agitation. Police forces were deployed in the town to ensure smooth flow of traffic in the area. "We have deployed 12 platoons of police force in Talcher town to maintain law and order," she added. Other major demands were commencement of classes at the Talcher medical college immediately, proper use of CSR fund of NTPC, MCL and Nalco for peripheral development of industrial areas, railway link between Angul station and Talcher town and establishment of a coal corridor for smooth transportation coal and other raw materials to NTPC and Nalco.
Manch president Muralidhar Sahu said the area gets polluted due to industrialization, but the industries don't develop its peripheral areas. "We will continue this economic blockade till 5 am of August 31," he added. Union oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who belongs to this town, said Odisha government gets hundreds of crores as revenue from Angul district every year, but it doesn't spend anything for the development of the area. District mineral fund (DMF) should be spent in Angul district, but why the state government fails to do so," he added.
(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)