Tension prevailed in Bhabanipur slum area of the city, here, on Sunday as the Sundargarh district administration thwarted attempt by the locals trying to acquire a piece of land, which has been earmarked for construction of a sewerage treatment plant (STP). Section 144 was clamped on the locality, in a bid to keep the locals away from the area.
According to sources, a patch of about 1.5 acres of land, located near Bhabanipur slum area, under Sector 21 area of Rourkela, had been identified as suitable for construction of the STP. Significantly, the STP has been a mandatory requirement from environmental view point and the project has been overdue in the steel city due to non identification of suitable land for the same. Since this land originally belongs to the Rourkela Steel Plant, a process was initiated to hand over the patch of land to the State Government for facilitating construction of the STP over that patch of land. Sources said the district administration had received an intelligence report that a group of locals, including residents of Bhabanipur slum area, were planning to grab that piece of land, by erecting some spiritual flags. Accordingly, a group of locals had also cleaned the area on Saturday with a view to move ahead with their activity on Sunday. But, the administration acted promptly over the matter as about five platoons of police force along with magistrate reached the spot, during the wee hours on Sunday. The administration clamped section 144 in the locality. The administration along with the RSP officials immediately started fencing of the area, with barbered wires and completed the same by evening.