7 OSAP jawans held hostage by PPSS

PARADIP: Tension once again gripped Posco site when seven OSAP jawans were on Saturday taken hostage by the members of Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti (PPSS) for entering Gobindapur. They were released after five hours. While the PPSS members claimed that police were sent to the area even after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik promised not to use force at a meeting last year, the jawans said they were on their way to restore law and order at a village in Trilochanpur under Kujang police limits, where a group clash had taken place.  On Saturday morning, there was a clash  between two groups of villagers, in which one person was injured. Kujang police directed the OSAP jawans, who were camping at the Posco site, to restore peace in the area. The jawans were on their way to Trilochanpur through trouble-torn Gobindapur village as it is a shorter route to reach the spot. Hundreds of PPSS supporters who were taking out a rally to protest the land acquisition spotted the police jeep and stopped it at around 10 am. The jawans confessed that they had entered the Posco site to reach Trilochanpur at the earliest and restore peace. After their release in the afternoon, driver Anil Kumar Nayak said, “No harm was caused to any of the hostages by PPSS activists.” Abhaya Sahu, president of PPSS, said the jeep carrying policemen should not have moved into the area. He sought an explanation from the Home Secretary as to why police force entered Dhinkia panchayat area when PPSS activists were busy organising the meeting.  Former sarpanch Sisir Mohapatra said they were taking out a rally with a pledge not to hand over their land and betel vines to Posco project. The jawans were released as they were not the staff of Kujang and Paradip police stations. On the other hand, revenue officials acquired land at Nuagaon, Polang and Noliasahi peacefully. They demolished 32 betel vines and disbursed ` 38 lakh to the beneficiaries. Kujang police station IIC Gupteswer Bhoi said the jawans had been released unhurt and police have registered a case against the PPSS activists for illegal detention of police personnel.