The clash occurred near Bosecalis Point at 1.30 pm when anti-Posco villagers came face-to-face with 60-70 labourers of Paradip Paribahan, a private firm that is constructing a 12-km coastal road to link Paradip to the proposed Posco steel plant.
Tension ran high since the morning when alleged hired goons of the private contractor forcibly evicted the anti-Posco villagers who were on dharna at the road construction site. Bombs and stones were hurled, leading to one death and injuries to about 20 people from both camps.
The construction work has been put off indefinitely.
Jagatsinghpur SP S Devdutta Singh said the incident occurred after anti-Posco villagers attacked the labourers. “It was a one-sided attack. They hurled bombs at the labourers which resulted in one death,” said Singh.
But the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti alleged that the contractor’s men attacked the villagers who were protesting peacefully.
The victim has been identified as Dwijabara Swain of Sanagola village under Kujnaga police station. Prashant Paikray, spokesperson for PPSS, said, “The man who was killed had come to attack us, but a bomb hurled by the contractor’s men killed him.”
The villagers and the contractor’s men had earlier clashed on September 26 when the latter tried to begin construction.