Three days after the police attacked the agitating anti-industry Dhinkia villagers in the JSW project area near here, normalcy in the village has not returned.
Two or three km from the village, villagers who hid in the forest, paddy fields, and on the beach, were returning to their home, hungry and injured.
Twenty-two people, including children and women, were still missing. Three of the injured after being treated at the Jagatsinghpur District Headquarters Hospital have been shifted to Cuttack SCB Medical College and Hospital in critical condition.
Police personnel were marching over the border. Even rights activists, social workers or environmentalists were barred from entering in the village.
On the other hand, Section 144 has been issued in Dhinkia village and the night curfew has been enforced. On Saturday and Sunday the destruction of betel vine had been stopped. The roadblocks built by the villagers were demolished.
Environmentalist Prafulla Samantaray said the State Government had not signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with JSW to carry out the project in the Dhinkia. Neither did it get any permission from Forest and Environment Department. This is a big issue in the village, he told.