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Protest against POSCO

BHUBANESWAR: Orissa Government may have galvanised its administrative machinery to ensure conduct of bhoomi puja of South Korean POSCO’s proposed mega steel project on April 1, but protestors are already up to the task.

Three organisations here on Tuesday announced to mobilise one lakh farmers from all over the country and hoist national flag in the proposed Special Economic Zone (SEZ) earmarked for POSCO near port town of Paradip on the same day.

Over a thousand farmers from Chhatisgarh, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand took out a rally here protesting setting up of 12 million tonne per annum capacity plant by POSCO in Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadakujanga gram panchayats of Jagatsinghpur district.

They submitted a memorandum to Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare seeking his intervention in the matter.

The State Government, which has not been able to help acquire necessary land for the project even after two years of signing of memorandum of understanding, has assured the company to bring the controversial project back to track by holding bhoomi puja on April 1, which is incidentally foundation day of both the State as well as POSCO.

“We will not let the project materialise on agricultural land. We are also against the displacement. Several mass organisations have been protesting the project.

If the State Government does not hold itself back, we will organise a farmers’ meet on the same patch of land on the same day,” Biswajit Ray of Rastriya Yuba Sangathan (RYS) warned here on Tuesday.

The rally was organised by RYS along with Madhya Pradesh-based All India Kissan Mazdoor Association (AIKMA) and Bhubaneswar-based Nava Nirman Samiti.

Hareram Singh of AIKMA said the project was anti-farmer and was being conceived by the State Government ignoring concerns raised by various sections of the society.

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