JOIN USThe local administration in Odisha’s coastal Jagatsinghpur district on Monday resumed the land acquisition process for the South Korean major Posco’s multi-crore mega steel project after a gap of almost one and half months.
The previous round of land acquisition work was executed by the district administration in the last week of February and the first week of March this year.
The district administration’s sudden decision to resume the land acquisition process seemed to have caught unawares, the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), the organisation spearheading the anti-Posco agitation in the area.
According to an official report reaching the state headquarters from Jagatsinghpur, personnel engaged by the district administration acquired 19 betel leaf plantations at Mangalapada near Govindpur area of the district on Monday, amidst tight security.
A sum of Rs 20 lakh in compensation was paid to the farmers concerned.
The land acquisition process was peaceful but nearly four platoons of armed police were deployed in the locality for maintenance of law and order. The Jagatsinghpur district collector and police superintendent were present.
“A majority of the 2,700 acres required for the first phase of the project has been acquired. We are hopeful of acquiring the rest of the land during the current round of land acquisition process,” said a source in the Jagatsinghpur district administration.
By the time PPSS activists organised a protest rally in the area, the district administration had finished the land acquisition work for the day. However, the samiti said that it would continue its opposition to the project tooth and nail. “Posco will not be allowed to set up its project here,” its president Abhay Sahu said.