Dhanbad: Villagers go on mass hunger strike before HURL Sindri

A group of 70 villagers from Chhatatand Panchayat, demanding an immediate stop to the discharge of chemicals into the village creek and removal of outside workers, went on a hunger strike outside the Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Limited (HURL) Sindri factory on Friday.

Doli Hansda, head of Chhatand Panchayat, who is leading the agitation, said the villagers have started a hunger strike today. If the HURL management does not act on the demands within three days, the villagers would start fast to death from February 6.

The HURL Sindri plant, which came up in place of the Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI) plant, is an ambitious plant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which laid the foundation stone on May 25, 2018. The plant, which started commercial production in November, has a production capacity of 3,850 tonnes of neem-coated urea per day. This morning, as per the pre-announced programme, hundreds of local villagers of various panchayats reached HURL gate and went on hunger strike.

Dipak Mahto, spokesperson of the agitating villagers, said that the chemical released by the HURL factory has made the water of Joria village (river) poisonous. Cattle fall victim to it daily. So the villagers demand the management to stop it immediately. The agitators alleged that outsiders were deployed in the factory, ignoring the genuine claims of the local people.

“FCI built on our land in 1948. HURL was established on FCI land. So the villagers demand employment at the plant. Since the local villagers were affected by the production in the plant, they should get jobs in the work related to the production,” said Dipak Mahto.

Dola Hansda said that this is a village issue agitation and the political party has nothing to do with it. HURL vice-president Sindri Dipten Ray and HR manager Vikrant Kumar did not return phone calls, but a senior plant official, who requested anonymity, said productivity and dispatches have not been affected by the agitation so far.