Deep resentment is brewing among the locals of the Khandadhar area of Sundargarh district against the State Government’s recommendation to the Centre to hand over the Chheliatoka hill to the South Korean company Posco.
The locals said the hill is one of their income sources as they used to sell forest products like Mahula, lakha, Jhuna and other medicated products after bringing these from the hill. Similarly, over a hundred of villages of six Gram Panchayats have been using the water flowing from the Khandadhar for their cultivation. If the Khandadhar area is handed over to a company, the area would turn into a desert and the local people would incur a heavy loss, rued a villager.However, the locals on Tuesday wrote to Governor SC Jamir requesting him to give a fair judgment on the matter.