Anti-Posco activists intensify stir

BHUBANESWAR - Activists opposing Posco’s steel mill project in Orissa have intensified their stir and decided to go on an indefinite strike after Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik assured work on the South Korean giant’s proposed $12 billion mega steel plant near Paradip would be stepped up.

The Posco Pratirodha Sangram Sumiti intensified its stir hours after Patnaik Tuesday assured South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to expedite the Posco project which has not yet started.

The activists have decided to go on a strike near the proposed site. They are protesting their displacement due to the project. They also say their lucrative betel leaf farms will be affected by it.

“We have decided to go on indefinite strike at Balitutha, the entry point towards Gadakujanga, Dhinkia and Nuagaon. It will be relay strike (day and night),” Posco Pratirodha Sangram Sumiti spokesperson Prashant Paikray said.

“We have also decided not to allow officials from Posco, police and administration to enter the proposed site,” he said.

Posco, one of the world’s biggest steel makers, signed a deal with the Orissa government in June 2005 to set up the project near the port town of Paradip in coastal Jagatsinghpur district, some 100 km from here, by 2016. It will be the largest foreign direct investment in India.

The steel maker requires about 4,004 acre land for the project, of which 2,900 acre is forest land. The project has been delayed over two years due to various reasons, including protests by locals.

Thousands of locals have been protesting the project, saying it will displace them from their homeland and ruin their betel-leaf farms. Posco and the government maintain the project will bring revenue and employment to the state.