KNIA urges Chief Secretary to take steps to curb extortion

Jajpur: Kalinga Nagar Industries Association (KNIA) has urged the Chief Secretary to take immediate steps to tackle the menace of organised extortion and harassment by the so-called organisations active in Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex (KNIC) in Jajpur district.

Dashing off a letter to Pradeep Kumar Jena, KNIA president P L Kandoi has pointed out that harassment and exploitation by the miscreants are going on in KNIC area to make easy money.

Kandoi stated that late Biju Patnaik had a strong belief that through industrialisation, the socio-economic status of the people of Odisha can be improved. He was instrumental in setting up the second steel plant at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur after Rourkela Steel Plant. During Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s rule, 15 industries and its ancillaries have been set up at KNIC.

“Since the last couple of years, industries at KNIC have been passing through a challenging situation. Some have have closed down their units affecting thousands of workers,” the letter said.

The letter also said that KNIA had taken up the matter several times with the State government but there has been no concrete action. The letter said some local hooligans have formed Associations and are harassing the industries through various means for extortion.

These local miscreants or self-proclaimed social activists either through their Samitis or Associations go on complaining against the industries by making false allegations before the State Pollution Control Board and pressurising them to close down the units.

The letter said that such unholy nexus has targeted Manpur Railway siding on which almost 5 to 6 Kalinga Nagar industries are dependent to meet their logistic requirement for transportation of critical raw materials. With an ulterior motive to extort ransom from the industries, they have made allegations on the false pretext of pollution.

“FIRs have been lodged at local police station against these Associations and Samitis on account of their criminal activities, but still they are actively working proclaiming themselves as social activists,” Kandoi stated.