Women stage dharna, forcibly dispersed

ANGUL: Police, on Monday, forcibly evacuated agitating women of Phulpara, who were on a dharna at the construction site of Power Grid Corporation’s pooling station here, demanding provision of drinking water.According to reports, Phulpara village near Angul town has been acquired by PGCIL for setting up its pooling station. The stone for this Rs 2,400-crore project was laid by the Union Minister for Power Sushil Kumar Shinde recently and attended by State’s Energy Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak besides local MP and MLAs.  Due to construction activities, two big ponds and one large well, major sources of water supply for the villagers, dried up. Soon after, the villagers demanded wells in the nearby rivulet to overcome the severe water shortage. The company authorities allegedly declined their demand.Piqued, hundreds of village women trooped into the construction site and stopped the work by staging a dharna.   Local police instead of helping women thirsting for water forced evacuation from the spot. The company officials did not respond to the repeated phone calls.