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Opposition plea to PM

Special Correspondent

Submit memo seeking his intervention in POSCO issue

BHUBANESWAR: Four Opposition parties on Monday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resolve the controversy over the proposed mega steel plant project of POSCO-India in Jagatsginghpur district of the State.

In a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister, the leaders of Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Orissa Gana Parishad and Janata Dal (S) urged Dr. Singh to intervene and prevent `mayhem' in the POSCO project area.

Stating that the State Government had moved massive police force to the POSCO project area triggering fear in the minds of the people opposing their displacement, the leaders said nothing should be imposed on the people against their wish.

Clarifying that they were not opposed to industrialisation, the leaders, however, said that there should be balance between human rights and dignity and economic growth. ``Industrialisation should not be at the cost of the people. Let the project be shifted to a barren stretch instead of allowing it to come up in lush green fertile agriculture land," they said.

Those who signed the memorandum are Janardan Pati, state secretary of CPI(M), Bijay Mohapatra, president of OGP; Nityananda Pradhan, state secretary of CPI, and Krushna Chandra Patro, state general secretary of JD(S).

Mentioning that the Prime Minister's office had held several meetings to pursue the POSCO steel project, the leaders said that `such interest and monitoring is bound to be interpreted as undue and unjust when viewed in the backdrop of the fact that the much delayed projects such as regional centre of AIIMS near Bhubaneswar, oil refinery project at Paradip, National Institute of Science or IIT, KBK development have never attracted such attention from the PMO".

They raised a protest against the "misplaced notion of the Naveen Patnaik Government that equates sustainable development with forced land grab to promote industrial growth".

No clear policy

"In fact, there is no clear policy for sustainable and scientific exploitation of our mineral wealth." The leaders also raised strong objection to the bartering of the State's precious mineral wealth at throwaway prices to private greed.

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