A company-police nexus has successfully prevented hundreds of villagers to a public hearing site at Badapurunapani in Sundargarh district for environment clearance (EC) of a green field project of Kai International Limited at Kapanda, alleged Lok Shakti Abhiyan president and environmentalist Prafulla Samantara.
The administration conducted the public hearing with a few company supporters preventing more than 500 affected villagers who are opposing the most polluted project, he said.
At the outside gate of the venue, police force did not allow them to participate in the public hearing and on the way many were also held up by the police. Many including women were taken in police vehicles to unknown places, while some of them were kept in Gurundia police station, he told.
In a letter to The Member Secretary, State Pollution Control Board, Samantaray demanded to declare the unfair and undemocratic public hearing as void.
The KAI International proposes for installation of an Iron Ore Beneficiation Plant of 1.5 MTPA throughput (1.16 MTPA High Grade Ore), an Iron Ore Pelletization Plant of 1.2 MTPA and Producer Gas Plant 27,000 Nm3/hr at Kapanda. The public hearing was held on May 24.
