The Supreme Court
verdict allowing diversion of forest land for a 12-million-tonne steel
plant by South Korea’s Posco might have brought cheers to the company
but it has also provided the project’s opponents a rallying point.
The Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), the anti-Posco brigade that
has been agitating against the project for the last three years, has
resolved to intensify its stir.
The committee has worked out a plan — occupy the vacant land before the
government hands it over to the company. It has, meanwhile, identified
1,500 acres out of the 3,097 acres set free by the apex court for
occupation and decided to distribute it among the residents of Dhinkia,
Gobindpur, Nuagaon, Noliashai, Gadkujang and other villages of the site
area.
At a meeting in Gobindpur on Sunday, PPSS leader Abhay Sahoo urged the
villagers to start construction on this land to make the acquisition
process tough for the company.
However, many villagers in the site area are confused about their
future. “We had great expectations from the Supreme Court. We have been
living in this place for many years, how can we leave this land for the
company?” said Sundari Devi of Gobindpur village.
Sahoo, however, appears nonchalant. “All the people, including women
and children, will continue their fight against the Posco project and
they are ready to shed their blood,” he said.
The PPSS has formed a 15-member committee to strengthen its drive
against the government’s land acquisition plan. The Supreme Court has
allowed diversion of 3,095 acres forest land of three panchayats —
Dhinikia, Nuagaon and Gadkujang.
According to Babuli Rout, an anti-Posco leader from Gobindpur, this
land, which is available for other purposes, can be distributed among
the local villagers.
On Sunday, more than 1,500 acres were allocated to the villagers of
Gobindpur and Dhinkia.
According to rules, a person who stays on government land for 30 years
by taking advance possession from the sub-collector concerned, cannot
be displaced in accordance with the Orissa Prevention Encroachment Act
8 (A).The special land acquisition officer, Nrusingh Swain, said no one
in the Posco site area had taken advance possession permission from the
sub-collector, and it would not be difficult to acquire the land from
the illegal occupiers.
President of PPSS, Shaoo said, PPSS will not only fight against the
Posco steel project, but also work to protect the local forest area
notwithstanding SC order dereserving the forest patch. The activists of
PPSS are on mission visiting the forest areas in Dhinika, Gobindpur
creating awareness among people in this regard.
They convinced the villagers depletion of forest would cause sea
erosion and damage their habitat. PPSS has decided to form forest
protection committees in all the villages.
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