While a recent breach in the Vedanta’s ash pond embankment kept villagers in a state of fear, the Jharsuguda district administration on Saturday convened a meeting and reassured the villagers that Vedanta would take all steps to prevent recurrence of such an incident.
However, the villagers demanded before district Collector Bibhuti Bhusan Pattnaik that they be resettled elsewhere. They refused to budge from their stand and said that they would not allow any repair of the breached embankment.
Notably, the breach occurred on August 28 damaged paddy in hundreds of acres of land.
Finally, it was resolved that the slurry in ash pond no 3 would be pumped out reducing the pressure on the ash pond and convene a meeting of the Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development Advisory Committees (RPDAC) and look into the demand of the villagers for relocation.
MlA Naba Kisore Das, IG (Northern Range) Sushsanta Kumar Nath and Vedanta officials were present.