Sixteen tribal activists and villagers of Sundargarh district are in jail for the past 4 days for allegedly protesting against the expansion of a mines operated by state-owned Mahanadi Coalfields Limited that is allegedly causing massive pollution near their villages.
On January 19 this year, around 5,000 people from 45 villages of Hemagir block of Sundargarh district started their peaceful protest against pollution from the trucks carrying coal from Kulda Open Cast Mine and Basundhara open cast mines to an unit of Jindal Steel and Power Limited in Chhatisgarh’s Raigarh, 41 km away. The villagers, most of them Hill khadia, Bhuyan and Gond tribals, started a blockade to stop the trucks from Sundargarh travel to Chhatisgarh.
“It is impossible for most villagers in the area to not beathe the air laced with coal and flyash. The paddyfields are covered with a layer of coal dust,” said a tribal villager requesting anonymity.
