Bokaro: Operations at several major production units of Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) were disrupted on Saturday after displaced persons demanding jobs blocked all entry gates, with officials estimating a production loss of around Rs 30 crore daily.A production report prepared around 2.30 pm said the blast furnaces, sinter plant and two steel melting shops had stopped functioning because employees for the incoming shifts could not reach the plant.The blockade intensified the agitation by displaced persons under the banner of the Visthapit Apprentice Sangh. An indefinite hunger strike led by Bokaro MLA Shwettaa Singh at Two Tank Garden, near the BSL headquarters, entered its eighth day on Saturday.Talks between the protesters and senior BSL officials, including director in-charge Priya Ranjan and executive director Rajshree Banerjee, failed at the Circuit House. The meeting was attended by Bokaro deputy commissioner Ajay Nath Jha and Chas sub-divisional magistrate Pranjal Dhanda.Jharkhand State Youth Commission chairperson Kumar Gaurav said BSL officials had proposed setting up a committee, but the protesters rejected the proposal, arguing that earlier committees had failed to resolve the issue. They insisted that displaced persons be provided jobs.Finance minister Radha Krishana Kishore said BSL management should frame a policy to provide employment to displaced persons. Kishore, Gaurav and Jharkhand Congress president Keshav Mahto Kamlesh joined the dharna for a few hours.Singh said the blockade would continue until the demands were met. Protester Sunil Kumar said displaced youths had been receiving assurances for nearly one and a half years, while several apprenticeship trainees were still awaiting employment, leaving their families facing financial uncertainty.Dumri MLA and JLKM chief Jairam Mahto, BJP Dhanbad MP Dulu Mahato and Congress workers also extended support to the agitation.BSL said employees who had been inside the plant for more than 18 hours were facing shortages of food and drinking water. BSL and SAIL urged the state administration to restore access through the gates.
