Dantewada MLA Chaitram Attami went to NMDC’s Bacheli office on October 31 and asked the state-run miner to halt construction of gates on the town’s main roads, after residents complained the barriers would require identity checks on routes they use daily. Attami said the work should not proceed without a no-objection certificate from the municipality and without consultation with elected representatives and local people, according to Patrika.
What residents are objecting to
NMDC has started building gates across main roads in Bacheli, the mining town in Dantewada district that sits beside the company’s Bailadila iron ore operations. Residents who approached Attami said the gates sit on routes they use to reach the local market, schools, the hospital and the railway station.
Patrika reported that residents told the MLA Aadhaar cards are being demanded from people passing through these routes, which they said was causing hardship for daily commuters and families. NMDC has described the gates as a security measure, though the company has not issued a separate public statement laying out why they are needed now or how the checks will work.
Bacheli is officially a Nagar Palika, a municipal body under Dantewada district, and it is this municipality whose no-objection certificate Attami says NMDC still needs. According to 2011 Census data, Bacheli’s municipal limits cover a population of roughly 21,435 people, with the Nagar Palika responsible for water supply, sewerage and road building within the town, which is the civic authority Attami wants brought into the decision before any gate goes up.
What the MLA told NMDC
Attami, the BJP legislator for Dantewada, went to NMDC’s Bacheli office in person after residents brought him their complaint, and questioned officials on what basis the company had decided to put gates on public roads running through the town. He said NMDC had not shown residents or their elected representatives the reasoning behind the project before starting work.
He told officials that construction should stop until the municipality grants its no-objection certificate and until representatives and residents are consulted on the plan. He also asked NMDC management and the Dantewada Collector to step in and intervene on the matter without further delay.
Separately, Attami raised the question of whether the gates were meant to restrict protests and agitations in the town, not only to screen ordinary movement. “Citizens have a democratic right to peaceful protest,” Attami said, adding that neither movement nor protest should be curtailed by the arrangement.
Why a mining town is sensitive to new checkpoints
Bacheli grew into a town around NMDC’s project and is still widely known locally as the NMDC township, built around the company’s iron ore mining in the Bailadila hill range. The same range feeds NMDC’s nearby Kirandul complex, about 10 km away, and the Bacheli railway station links the area to Visakhapatnam for ore transport.
Because the town’s roads, market access and rail link all run close to NMDC’s mining infrastructure, a new layer of gates and identity checks touches almost every resident’s daily commute, not just NMDC’s own workforce. That overlap between company land and public town roads is at the center of why Attami is asking for the municipality’s sign-off, rather than treating the gates as NMDC’s decision alone.
What happens next
Attami has asked NMDC management and the Dantewada Collector to pause construction for now. He has also called for a joint meeting of the municipality, elected representatives and residents to hear objections, saying he would support the gates only if that process first established that security genuinely requires them.
As of the Patrika report, NMDC and the district administration had not issued a final decision on whether construction would be paused or on the no-objection certificate the municipality is being asked to grant. A formal response from NMDC, the Collector’s office or the Nagar Palika is the next development to watch on this story.
Frequently asked questions
Why does NMDC say it is building the gates?
NMDC has described the gates as a security measure for its Bacheli operations, but the company has not issued a public statement explaining the specific threat or process behind the decision, according to Patrika’s report on the MLA’s visit.
Why does the Nagar Palika’s no-objection certificate matter here?
Bacheli is a municipal town, and its Nagar Palika is the civic body responsible for roads, water and sewerage within town limits. Attami’s argument is that gates on public roads inside those limits need the municipality’s sign-off, not NMDC’s decision alone.
Has construction actually stopped?
As of Patrika’s report, there was no confirmation from NMDC or the Dantewada district administration that work had paused. Attami had asked for a halt and a joint meeting with residents and the municipality, but a formal response was still pending.
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