Posco land acquisition may be deferred by a week

The Orissa government may defer its plan to resume land acquisition for South Korean steel company Posco’s $12-billion project near Paradip on May 18, by a week due to non-cooperation of United Action Committee (UAC) members, unavailability of temporary shed for police forces and severe heat wave.

Priyabrata Patnaik, managing director of state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation and nodal officer for the project, had earlier said the land acquisition process would be resumed from May 18. The process had come to a halt on August 6, 2010, following the stop work order by the environment ministry.

The Jagatsinghpur district administration had chalked out elaborate strategies, and planned to demolish nearly 40 betel vines a day. About fifty officials, including revenue department staff, were to be engaged for demolition of betel vines. But sources in the government said the operation was likely to be deferred by a week due to intense heat wave and acute scarcity of drinking water in the locality.

The administration had requisitioned 20 platoons of police, including five platoons of women force, for deployment at Gadkujang, Nuagaon, Gobindpur, Balitutha, Trilochanpur and other places in and around the project site to maintain peace.

Ten to twelve platoons have already reached Kujang, about 15 km from the Posco site. But they are yet to be deployed in Gadkujang panchayat, where land acquisition was to start on May 18, due to non-availability of temporary shed.

Anti-Posco activists have refused to give shelter to the police force in their unused houses. Similarly, UAC, a pro-Posco outfit, has announced it will not cooperate with the administration unless their 29-point charter of demands is fulfilled by May 15.

UAC President Anadi Charan Rout said a final decision on the outfit’s stand will be taken after a meeting with district officials on May 16 in the presence of local MLA and Posco officials.

The district administration had provided two acres of land for construction of shed and barrack near the Posco transit colony at Badgabpur last year, but the facilities are yet to come up.

District Project Officer, rehabilitation and resettlement, Surjeet Das also admitted that land acquisition may be deferred by four to five days due to delay in arranging temporary shelter for the police in Gadkujang.