A man-made disaster may occur in Bokaro like the breaching of the NAlCO ash pond in Odisha at midnight of December 31, 2000. In support of their demands, the local displaced people blocked the ash pond for 100 days which hindered the transportation of ash from the pond, increasing the pressure day by day on the guard walls. Breach may occur due to high pressure on the walls, said Bokaro Steel officials.
“Two ash ponds were almost filled with ash, while a third one is about to fill. If the blockade did not lift-up it may create disaster,” added the official. It’s worth mentioning that in December 2000 a breach in NAlCO ash pond had created havoc in 26 villages of Angul and Talcher tahsils of Angul district in Odisha. Most of the agricultural lands, land with or without scrub, fallow areas were fully submerged with water mixed with ash.
The village—Dighi, Gurujanguli, Nuagoan, Khamana of Talcher tahasil, including Tetoi, Tentolei, Balaramprasad of the Angul tahasil, were seriously affected with high levels of ash deposits. There are about 10 displaced villages, including Mahuar, Shibutand, Kundauri, Bansjhar, Chaitatand, Jharndutand, situated around the ash pond in Bokaro which might get affected if an accident occurrs in the ash pound, sources said.
Most of the displaced groups are demanding from BSl to provide jobs in bulk while the BSl management has declared that it has already provided jobs to about 16,000 displaced people earlier. Meanwhile, the displaced people alleged that the company at the time of acquiring their lands to set up plant had promised to provide jobs to 24,000 identified displaced people.