Seven long years after they were forced to leave their homes at the height of the anti-Posco agitation, 24 families, who spent the intervening period at a transit camp set up by Posco at Badagabapur near the company’s steel project site here, returned to their native village Patana on Saturday.
“The residents of the transit camp had expressed their desire to return to their native place, which was entirely natural. Now that the situation has returned to normal, we thought it would be a good time for them to return,” Paradip ADM Ramakrushna Sahu said.The other 32 families too would leave the transit camp for their native places by batches, the ADM said, adding that the families would be rendered all possible help by the administration for their proper rehabilitation.
The ADM, along with the local tehsildar and the police station IIC, was present at the transit camp to oversee the arrangements for the shifting of the colony residents to their village.A sustenance allowance of Rs 2,400, besides a polythene sheet, was given to each family shifting out from the colony by Posco to take care of emergency operations during the transition.
The people were ecstatic about their return to their village. “There is nothing like home. We were not staying here out of choice. But now that the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) has assured us that no harm would be done to us and all possible cooperation would be given to us for our full and proper rehabilitation, we decided to go back,” said Suresh Muduli, one of those leaving the camp.
Seven years ago, it was PPSS supporters who had allegedly driven these people out of their homes and hearths after branding them as Posco supporters. The wheel appears to have come full circle with the 56 families now agreeing to oppose Posco as part of the deal struck with the PPSS.
Senior PPSS leader Sisir Mohapatra said, “It was the administration’s divide-and-rule policy which had estranged our brethren from us. We are happy to have them back in the village and shall lend them all help to rebuild their houses.”Significantly, PPSS president Abhay Sahu’s son is a sarpanch candidate in the belated panchayat election taking place in Dhinkia. Saturday was the last day for filing of nominations.