(released to Press on January 9,2006 at Bhubhanswar)

A delegation of AIKMS (All India Kisan-Mazdoor Sabha) led by its All Indian General Secretary G Diwakar visited Kalinganagar on 08/01/2006.

Some of their main findings are:

i) People of Kalinganagar are an agricultural community who has toiled hard to develop their fields and villages. The Government has neither recorded the land ownership nor allotted any land to them.
ii) After the initial displacement in 1997, all the displacements have been forced on the people and have been done through brute force of the police including the use of explosions in the area. Very few of the displaced have been resettled. Those who have been resettled haven't been given given proper facilities or housing. Compensation given is only to those few (10 to 20%) who had pattas. None of the displaced have been given jobs as promised. Only a few have been employed as contract labour doing manual jobs.
iii) Displacement has specifically targeted the tribals while leaving out the non-tribals. It is a result of the rulesr treating tribals as second grade citizens without any basic rights in the society supervised by present rulers. It is also an attempt to divide the people.
iv) The attack on the tribals on January 2, 2006 was premeditated, well organized and with a desire to teach the protestors a lesson and demoralize them. The merciless and barbaric methods of torture used, the chopping off of their hands reflects the attitude of slavemasters towards slaves.
v) People's anger in the entire area and amongst all sections of people is high. They are prepared for disciplined and organized struggle and for paying the supreme sacrifice to defend themselves. Far from demoralizing them the repression has left them even more motivated and determined.

Some of the demands of the AIKMS are:
i) We support entirely the demands raised by the Kalinganagar Movement in the wake of the incident of the police firing on tribals on January 2, 2006.
ii) Not a single person should be displaced in the name of industry or otherwise. In the Kalinganagar area each of the persons who have been displaced already should be given 5 acres of agricultural land.
iii) Chief Minsister Naveen Patnaik, Finance Minsiter Prafulla Ghadei, Insdusty Minister Bishwabhusahn Harichandan, Mines Minister Padmanabh beherea and the SC/ST Development Minister should be removed from the ministry and Naveen Patnaik and Prafulla Ghadei should be tried for murder.
iv) The DGP, Home Secretary, then jajpur SP and Collector and ADM Kalinganagar should be dismissed from service and charged with genocide
v) Family of the deceased should be given Rs. 20 lakhs each and Rs. 10 lakhs for each of the injured must be given immediately
vi) Multinational Companies and monopoly industrial houses should be thrown out of Orissa
vii) Tribals should be given the rights to development using mines, land, water and forests in the area
viii) All cases against the activists of Kalinganagar Movement should be unconditionally withdrawn and the leaders and activists of the movement in the jails should be released unconditionally.

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Some findings of the AIKMS Team after its visit to Kalinganagar on January 8, 2006 (only part of the reports is provided)

1. The people of Kalinganagar were highly hopeful of their development when the Kalinganagar Industrial Complex was begun as they were promised jobs, economic well being and proper rehabilitation against development. In 1997 after the establishment of the Neelanchal Industrial project 634 families (actually more than 1000 as many joint families were counted as one) were displaced. Of these only 182 persons have been given employment in the industry and all of them have been engaged as manual lanoureres under contractors. For resettlement, each family was promised only 10 decimal land in a nearby market area, which was refused by most. No money was given for the construction of the houses. Only one primary school was built in the colony and no other facilities except a few hand pumps have been provided. There is no electricity connection, no sanitation and no common grounds. The resettlement colony of the Jindal Steel doesn't even have a school. This is direct contrast with the laid down objective of resettling oustees in model villages with all facilities. Tribals are expected by the Government to live without use of these facilities in their "developed" stage also.
2. When the MESCO Plant was build, 500 families were displaced ad they are still to be resettled. The Jindal Plant displaced a number of families who were forced to leave their dwellings by blasting bombs in their village. When Bhushan Steel was being established the government simply bulldozed the entire settlements after the compensations were paid. No rehabilitation was planned for them after this.
3. Thereafter, after last year on May 9, when Bhoomi Puja of the Maharastra Seamless was being organized the same was opposed by the tribals. The State administration displayed its valour and bravery on the helpless tribals, lathicharged them into fleeing from their homes and dying of injuries untreated and of hunger and starvation.
4. Government claims not withstanding, the compensation given to the people for their land acquired in 1992-93 has worked out to between Rs. 22,000 to Rs. 37,000 per acre. However it is to be noted that the compensation has been paid only to tose whose names were registered as patta holders. They constituted only about 10-20% of the people residing in these villages. One fifth of these too have not been given their compensation. The rest of the people constituting 80-90% of the people were not considered at all for compensation, as they had no land against their name.
5. It is interesting that all these "lucky" patta holders are from those families who had been given land during the last land settlement done way back in 1928 by the then Zemindar Krutibas Bhupati. It thus happens that more than 90% of the land belongs to the Government, which has not bothered even once to make a revenue settlement for these traditional owners of these forestlands. It also happens that even though these people are registered as voters and their Panchayats are run, yet there is no land earmarked even as Panchayat Land and their common land and hence no compensation was given for them also.
6. The people also informed that all land being acquired belongs to the tribals. All land of non-tribals is being exempted from acquisition even if it means altering the free flow of the boundary. This could be a part of the plan of the government to prevent broad based people's unity.
7. The proposed TATA Steel Plant area is 2000 acres and people from 9 villages were to be displaced. In this case there was no proposal for proper rehabilitation and for jobs.
8. The Government made plans to go ahead with the construction of boundary wall of TATA Steel in October itself. While the people raised a protest tey were fired at and forced into submission and the construction of the wall continued at a slow pace. While the people planned a big organized protest the government and TATA Steel planned for decisively going ahead with the construction. On the day fateful day when the tribal assembled the government came with full backing to beat back the tribals. 6 platoons comprising nearly 300 policemen had been engaged. The policemen were armed and were told to fire. Unaware of such a firm resolve on the part of the Naveen Patnaik government a delegation of the tribals came forward to talk to the police and TATA officials. This was enough provocation and the police lobbied teargas shells and began firing at almost point blank range of those tribals who walked in the front. Five tribals were either wounded or killed immediately. Facing thus attack the tribals retreated and they pelted stones on the police and attacked. One police person died in the retaliation. In retaliation against this the police continued firing at a long distance, their bullets finding more than 45 targets. This included one child aged 12 years who was near his school. This incident took place at around 11.30 PM.
9. Some of the injured were removed to Cuttack by the people and others to Jajpur by the police. It is astonishing to note that all those who were removed by the police to Jajpur were later declared as dead and had had their hands chopped off. This barbaric act has been justified on the grounds of identification by the police, while there is absolutely no medical justification to chop off the entire hands. Only the skin of the thumbs or at worst all the digits are taken and preserved for identification. This barbaric act speaks volumes about the Naveen Patnaik Governments commitment to serve the MNCs, World Bank and their Indian Compradors.