Villagers await decision on Posco plant

Prafulla Das

Stir likely to be intensified if project gets green signal

BHUBANESWAR: With the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests set to take a final decision on the proposed steel plant project of Posco-India Private Limited on Monday, Orissa villagers facing displacement have decided to intensify their agitation if the Ministry order went in favour of the company.

That a majority of villagers in the three gram panchayats of Dhinkia, Gadakujang and Gobindpur in Jagatsinghpur district were apprehensive appeared clear on Saturday.

“Going by the reports reaching us from New Delhi, we are apprehending that the order might go against us,” said Prashant Paikray, spokesperson of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), the organisation which has been opposing establishment of the proposed steel plant of Posco since 2005.

The land acquisition work for the proposed steel mill in Jagatsinghpur had been stopped by the Naveen Patnaik government on the orders of the MoEF, following a report of a panel set up by the Centre indicating violations of the provisions of the Forest Rights Act.

Two separate reports

Subsequently, another Central panel headed by the former Secretary of MoEF, Meena Gupta, had also submitted two separate reports raising environmental issues along with the alleged violation of the Forest Rights Act.

According to Mr. Paikray, the PPSS has decided to hold a public meeting in Dhinkia on February 1 to decide their future course of action in the light of the MoEF's decision that would be announced on Monday.

‘Coordination'

“After the February 1 meeting, we will try to develop coordination between all people opposing the project and carry forward our agitation to demand withdrawal of the project from the State if the MoEF order supports the company,” Mr. Paikray added.

Meanwhile, highly placed sources hinted that the MoEF might come out with a decision to strike a balance on the whole issue and not pass a harsh order against Posco the way it had done in the matter pertaining to the mining of Niyamgiri hills to extract bauxite for the alumina refinery of Vedanta Aluminium Limited and expansion plans for the refinery.

Whatever the MoEF decision, the Posco project was likely to face more hurdles in the coming days as different groups of people were opposed to establishment of the plant in Dhinkia, the company's proposed captive port at Jatadhari river mouth close to the site earmarked for the steel mill, sourcing of water from Mahanadi and Hansua for the project and proposed mining of iron ore from the Khandadhar mines in Keonjhar district.

NHRC takes serious view of poverty in KBK region

Prafulla Das

It seeks status report on implementation of welfare schemes

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The commission's two-day camp sitting concludes

The panel discusses various issues with officials

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BHUBANESWAR: The National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday expressed serious concern over the prevalence of poverty, food scarcity and malnutrition in Orissa's backward Koraput-Bolangir-Kalahandi (KBK) region, and directed the State government to effectively coordinate and implement various schemes for the region.

The commission also directed the State government to place before it a status report on the implementation of its recommendations about welfare schemes, including public distribution system, health and special security schemes. Addressing a press conference at the end of a two-day camp sitting here, its Chairperson Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and members Justice B.C. Patel, Satyabrata Pal and P.C. Sharma said they heard a number of complaints about alleged farmer suicides, alleged starvation deaths, vacant posts of doctors and teachers in the KBK region.

They were unanimous in their view that there was strong evidence of malnutrition in KBK region despite implementation of a series of welfare schemes under the Revised Long Term Action Plan (RLTAP) for the eight KBK districts such as Malkangiri, Koraput, Nawarangpur, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Bolangir and Sonepur.

The commission, which discussed the issues of poverty, unemployment, deprivation, hunger, starvation and malnutrition in the KBK region in a separate session with officials of the State government , expressed serious concern on the food security of the poor people who had been left out of the BPL (below poverty line) list.

Ration cards

The commission also directed the State government to send a detailed report on the issue of bogus ration cards in the KBK region and action taken against corrupt officials. The commission, which has been monitoring the situation in the KBK region for the past several years, would continue to do so in the days to come, they said. Giving details of a specific case, Mr. Justice Balakrishnan said they had sought explanation from the Health and Family Welfare Department of the State government about vacant posts of doctors in the KBK region.

Apart from dealing with cases from the KBK region, the commission also heard a series of cases from other parts of the State, including some relating to custodial deaths and violation of human rights of those displaced by different industries including that of Tata, Vedanta and POSCO.

Shadow of ryots' plight on New Year celebrations

Prafulla Das

They are still waiting for compensation for damaged crops due to unseasonal rains

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State yet to finalise guidelines for payment of compensation to sharecroppers

Package announced by the Chief Minister only a ‘deception': Congress MP

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— Photo: Lingaraj Panda

Bisika Behera, a sharecropper of Samantarapur village of Ganjam block, trying to retrieve whatever she could from her inundated field near NH 5 in Ganjam district on Saturday. The Central team that visited Orissa to ascertain the loss of paddy crop due to unseasonal rains has observed that considerable loss has been incurred.

BHUBANESWAR: Millions of farmers across the State were still waiting to receive compensation money for the extensive damage of their crop due to unseasonal rain, and Youth Congress activists were admitted to hospital during the day as their condition deteriorated while taking part in a fast-unto-death dharna in the city demanding a better deal for the rain-hit farmers. But hundreds of leaders, Ministers and activists belonging to the ruling Biju Janata Dal, who seemed to be blissfully ignorant of the increasing unrest among the farmers, thronged the residence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here to greet him on the occasion of New Year on Saturday morning.

Many senior government officials and officials of the State police also made a beeline for the Chief Minister's residence and presented him bouquets of flowers and greeted him. Similar was the scene at the State Secretariat and residence of the Ministers and senior bureaucrats with people, primarily ruling party politicians and businessmen, reaching with bouquets to renew their association with the powers that be. A host of politicians, including the Chief Minister, also visited the Sri Jagannath temple in Puri to seek the blessings of the deities.

Officials in the Revenue and Disaster Management Department of the State government admitted that disbursement of compensation money, as per the Rs. 902 crore special package for farmers announced by the Chief Minister on December 18, had not started in any of the affected districts till date.

Furthermore, the State government had also not finalised the guidelines for payment of compensation for the damage of paddy crop to the sharecroppers.

Meanwhile, president of the State unit of the Youth Congress and Lok Sabha Member Pradeep Majhi, who was also taking part in the fast-unto-death dharna that entered into its third day on Saturday, criticised the BJD government accusing it of turning a blind eye towards the plight of the farmers when farmer suicides were increasing by the day in the wake of the crop loss.

Mr. Majhi, who charged that diverting agricultural land for industries was a priority for the BJD government, said the package announced by the Chief Minister was only a “deception”.

As regards the BJD's criticism of the Congress-led alliance government at the Centre, Mr. Majhi said it had become a practice for the Chief Minister and BJD leaders to blame the Central government without rhyme or reason.

In another development, leaders of different Opposition parties and activists of various civil society organisations staged a dharna near the Raj Bhavan under the banner of All Odisha Coordination Council for Protection of Farmers. A delegation of the activists also submitted a memorandum to Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare urging him to intervene in the matter and ask the Centre and the State government to ensure payment of adequate compensation to the rain-hit farmers at the earliest. They also demanded that all farmers' families should be included in the list of families living below the poverty line.