Members of the House Committee on Environment led by Chairman Amar Prasad Satpathy on Friday evening visited the Tata Sponge plant at Bilaipada under Joda block.
Sources said the committee was scheduled to visit the Tata Sponge first and then the Jindal Steel at Deojhar in Barbil. But the committee changed its schedule as a large number of villagers had gathered in front of the Tata Sponge gate to give memorandum. However, the villagers were still there when the committee returned from visiting the Jindal Steel Plant. The committee received a memorandum from them.
The villagers in their memorandum alleged that the Tata Sponge has polluted Suna river water and contaminated village environment by dumping dust in nearby villages. Some women also informed the committee that they are leading miserable lives even though their families had given about 33 acres of land to the company. They expressed resentments seeing that local MlA Sanatan Mahakud was not in the team.
Other committee members who visited the plant were Mangal Singh Mudi, Pritiranan Ghadei, Shaiba Hansdash, Jyotiprakash Panigrahi and Debashis Nayak. Kenjohar district Collector Bishnu Prasad accompanied them. Though committee members went into the plant, reporters were not allowed entry by the plant security men.