Prafulla Das
Agitators plan road blockade today
Leaders, activists express shock over MoEF's decision
BHUBANESWAR: A large number of villagers who have been opposing land acquisition for the proposed 12 million tonne capacity steel plant project of Posco-India Private Limited in Orissa are now in no mood to give up their struggle already in its sixth year.
A day after Union Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh granted conditional clearance to the company's steel-cum captive power plant and a captive minor port, hundreds of men and women came out of their homes to attend a protest rally in Dhinkia area of Jagatsinghpur district on Tuesday and reiterated their resolve not to part with their land and livelihood sources to make space for the steel mill.
The villagers, who came to the rally venue raising slogans against Mr. Ramesh and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, decided to create roadblocks from Wednesday in their attempt to prevent the entry of land acquisition officials, police and Posco employees into the site earmarked for the proposed steel plant.
The meeting was convened by Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, the outfit which has been spearheading the anti-displacement agitation since the Naveen Patnaik government signed the memorandum of understanding with Posco for the steel project way back in June, 2005.
The leaders of different political parties, including the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Forward Bloc, the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal and many social activists participated in the rally and expressed their solidarity with the agitating villagers.
The leaders and activists expressed shock over the MoEF's decision to grant conditional clearance to the project even though land acquisition work for the project had been stopped as per its orders in August last year.
President of the Sangram Samiti Abhay Sahoo, who blamed Mr. Ramesh for “acting like a corporate agent,” announced that the villagers would not part with their land at any cost. The campaign against the project would be intensified and taken to the State and national level soon, he added.
The farmers, betel vine growers and fishermen in three gram panchayats of Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadakujang have been demanding since the signing of the MoU that the State government should shift the project to any other location to save their homes and livelihood sources.
Before the MoEF's latest order, there had been several clashes involving those opposing and supporting the project as well as the police, who had lathi-charged the villagers opposing the project on several occasions. Similar clashes cannot be ruled out if the administration attempts to acquire land in the coming days.
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