Tribals from 15 revenue villages in the iron ore mineral-rich belt of Gua-Kiriburu in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district have threatened to stop dispatch of iron ores of two leading steel manufacturers maharatna PSU Steel Authority of India Limited and private steel giant Tata Steel.

Nearly 100 villagers gathered at the Nuiya village under the Gua police station area of West Singhbhum under the banner of All Jharkhand Shramik Sangh, which has the patronage of Ajsu, an ally of the BJP during erstwhile Raghubar Das-led government and staged a protest against both the companies for not taking locals in filling of vacancies.

“We know that SAIL has been mining in the area for several decades. However, after 2015 they have stopped filling up vacancies from local candidates. Tata Steel Long Product (a subsidiary of Tata Steel), which has mines at Bara Jamda and Noamundi in Ghatkuri mines, is also not giving priority to taking locals under its roll. We have been raising these demands with the two companies for the past three months. We were hesitant to launch a full-scale agitation due to Covid restrictions. But now we will come on the streets and stop their iron ore dispatch from March if our demands are not addressed,” said Sameer Sheikh, the president of the sangh.

SAIL has iron mines at Chiria, Kiriburu, Meghahatuburu and Gua in the West Singhbhum district. “We have taken permission from Ajsu leader Sudesh Mahato (who is also the Sili MLA) for our agitation and Ajsu party has assured to lend support to our agitation. The villagers want their legitimate rights as we continue to remain poor while the companies earn crores through mining from our region and even ignore providing employment to deserving local candidates. When the companies take our land they make high promises but after starting mining they forget their promises. We will not sit silent anymore,” alleged Ramlal Munda, West Singhbhum district chief of Ajsu.

Repeated attempts to contact Tata Steel Long Product spokesperson Rajesh Rajan failed to elicit a response. SAIL chief general manager Gua Ore Mines, Bipin Kumar Giri refuted the allegations and claimed that they have been providing the best of salaries and employment opportunities to the locals.

“We have been providing best of payment and service conditions to the locals for several decades and always accord priority to locals during recruitment. However, being a PSU we have a structured way of filling up vacancies. But still, then we have been providing relaxation for the locals,” said Giri.