Jajpur, Jan 5 (Odisha.in) Police Saturday arrested 112 activists of the Sukinda Unemployed Technical Youth Association (SUTYA) for violence erupted in the JIndal steel plant in Kalinga Nagar in the district of Jajpur.
The SUTYA activists were arrested on charges of attacking police men on duty, damaging police vehicles and locking both entrance and exit gates and preventive movement of the men and materials from the Jindal Stainless Limited (JSL) premises, located in the industrial complex on Friday.
They were demanding employment of Sukinda constituency people against 70 percent of the total posts of JSL Kalinga Nagar plant, employment without consultation with the local employment exchange, no age limit and mark securing percentage barrier for them, cancellation of previous appointments in the stainless steel plant and priority to SUTYA activists in reappointments in the plant.
SUTYA staged a dharana before JSL on Friday and squatted at a gate of the company. The group also locked the entrance and material gates of the plant for over five hours and prevented man and material into the unit.
The agitators at first pelted stones at the truckers, stranded in and outside the plant premises where in the security personnel of JSL retaliated.
The scuffle between the agitators and the security personnel of the plant left 22 injured including 5 policemen. The SUTYA activists also ransacked the weighbridge and some computers of the plant and damaged over thirty vehicles including two police jeeps.
“We don’t fear the arrest. We are fighting for the cause of Sukinda people and our agitation will continue until our demand is fulfilled,” said SUTYA president Dharmananda Ray
Jajpur Superintendent of police, D.S Kute said that the SUTYA activists were arrested on charges of attacking police and security personnel and ransacking of the plant and damaging over thirty vehicles including police jeeps.
“We are in process of identification. Some of them have been identified so far and they will be forwarded to courts after the process is over.”
Odisha.in