PARADIP: After a brief lull, the pent-up anger took a violent turn in the Posco zone claiming at least one life on Wednesday. Crude bombs and stones were hurled in a pitched battle between lathi-wielding anti-Posco agitators and workers of a construction agency. At least 25 persons were injured, two of them seriously, in the bloody clash at Bose Callis point. The immediate provocation was laying of a coastal road that began on Tuesday linking the steel plant site near here. Activists of the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), led by former legislator and CPI leader Narayan Reddy, protested the road work. Reddy is leading the movement, as PPSS chief Ahbhay Sahu is in jail. The agitators were confronted by hundreds of workers of the construction agency ‘Paradip Parivan,’ triggering the clash. As bombs and missiles flew thick and fast, a worker, Dijwabar Swain of Samagola village, died on the spot. Anti-Posco leader Babuli Rout alleged that hired goons of the construction agency reached the entry gate at Dhinkia, ground zero of Posco agitation, early in the morning and threatened the locals to keep away from road work. This enraged the villagers who vowed to protest, Rout said. PPSS secretary Sisir Mohapatra said about eight persons of Dhinkia were injured. Two workers, ‘kidnapped’ by Posco agitators during the incident, were set free in the evening, he said. Erasama-Balikuda legislator Prasant Muduli blamed the district administration for not deploying police despite tension running high. For its part, the district administration said it was not informed of the road work. Activists of the Biju Workers Union, led by Sanjay Swain, blocked road in protest at IOCL plant in Paradip demanding arrest of the construction agency owner. The blockade was lifted after police intervention. Six platoons of police have been deployed in the area. SP S Devdatta Singh said adequate forces have been rushed since the situation is tense.
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