The Orissa High Court-appointed five-member lawyers’ committee visited the JSW steel project site at Dhinkia on Saturday and conducted a fresh public hearing.
The meeting was held in Dhinkia GP office where pro- and anti-project villagers of Mahala, Dhinkia, Patana, Trilochanpur and Govindapur expressed their views.
Three petitioners, Khirod Rout, Kuni Mallick and Pratap Samantray, who have filed two PILs in the High Court, also expressed their views before the panel.
Acting on the petitioners' complaint regarding police excess at Dhinkia village on January 14 , the High Court has formed the committee and directed it to visit Dhinkia to assess the situation and submit a report.
The team had first visited Dhinkia on February 19 and conducted a public hearing, but the situation turned tense as the pro- and anti-JSW supporters fought a pitched battle before the lawyers and the meeting abruptly ended.
As the lawyers furnished a report before the court informing the ugly situation, again the court had directed the panel to visit Dhinkia and instructed the Jagatsinghpur district administration and police to make elaborate arrangements to conduct a fresh public hearing smoothly.
And on Saturday, the Collector and SP monitored the overall arrangements and the meeting concluded without any trouble.
Sources informed that while a majority of villagers have given consent in favour of the JSW project, a section opposed it too. The district administration had prohibited mediapersons from covering the public hearing. Later, the Collector briefed the media about the development.