The Hindu : National : POSCO steel plant a sell-out: Medha Patkar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 13, 2006

National

National

POSCO steel plant a sell-out: Medha Patkar

Prafulla Das

— Photo: Ashoke Chakrabarty

EXPRESSING SOLIDARITY: Social activist Medha Patkar with people who will be displaced by the Posco plant, at Nuagaon on Sunday.

JAGATSINGHPUR: National coordinator of the National Alliance of People's Movement Medha Patkar on Sunday opposed the POSCO steel plant project in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district. ``It is a clear sell-out,'' she said.

Addressing people at Nuagaon, Ms. Patkar said the Korean company should quit the country without delay. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Orissa Government and the POSCO had been signed without understanding the issues involved, she said.

On the land acquisition process initiated in the area, she said the people to be affected had not been informed about the proposed project.

She regretted that while the Government had made a series of promises to POSCO, it had not taken note of the people's problems. The MoU with POSCO was also silent about the resettlement and rehabilitation package, she said.

Ms. Patkar criticised POSCO's plan to construct a port near its plant.

``It will not be a minor port as has been announced by POSCO, but a big port,'' she said.

She called upon political parties, particularly the Left, to make their stand clear on the POSCO project, which is likely to bring in the largest-ever foreign direct investment to the country.

Visits Kalinga Nagar

Earlier, Ms. Patkar visited Jatadhari where POSCO is planning to set up its captive port and also the villages such as Noliasahi, Patana, and Polanga where residents face displacement.

A large number of men and women and several prominent activists marched with Ms. Patkar shouting, ``We will fight. We will win.''

The people who will be affected by the POSCO project are basically farmers and fishermen.

Ms. Patkar visited Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district on Saturday to express solidarity with the families of those killed in the police firing on January 2.

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