Anti-Posco villagers threaten to boycott polls

The opponents of South Korean steel major Posco’s 12 million tonne steel project in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district seem to be determined to make their voice heard in the coming parliamentary and assembly elections in the state.

These anti-Posco agitators, mostly confined to two villages, Dhinkia and Gobindpur, within the Posco project site, have threatened to boycott the elections protesting against shifting of the location of the polling booths from their villages to nearby Trilochanpur and Nuagaon villages.

They have also decided not to allow any candidate from any political party to enter their villages for canvassing.

Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), spearheading the agitation against the project for last four years, has erected four wooden gates in Dhinkia and three in Gobindpur village to prevent the entry of different party candidates for campaigning. The two villages have about 4,000 voters.

Recently, the attempts of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate of Erasama- Balikuda assembly constituency, within which limits the Posco project site is located, to enter into Dhinkia and Gobindpur village for canvassing was vehemently opposed by PPSS activists sending signal to other party candidates not to venture into these villages.

Otherwise also, the law and order situation has worsened in Gobindpur following clashes between the anti and pro Posco activists.

Meanwhile, the district officials said, the polling booths meant for Dhinkia and Gobindpur have been shifted to Trilochanpur and Nuagaon as the anti-Posco activists are not allowing any government officials to enter into their villages. Though villagers in these two villages had cast their votes in the booths set up in their villages in the last elections, subsequently panchayat elections could not be held there due to law and order issues.

The Dhinkia and Gobindpur villagers are unwilling to go to Trlochanpur and Nuagaon to exercise their franchise as they fear the police would arrest them once they come out of their villages, considered to be bastions of anti-Posco movement. Most of these villagers have cases pending against them relating to anti-Posco agitation and violence.

Says one villager, Shanti Dei, “we want peace not vote so villagers have decided not to go other villages to caste their vote for their safety and to avert law and order situation”. Secretary of PPSS, Sisir Mohapatra clarified that they have no intention to forgo their democratic right to vote, but are forced to boycott the votes for the safety of villagers.

In a new turn of events, in a meeting in Dhinkia on Sunday, PPSS activists decided to allow the political party candidates to canvass in their villages if they gave assurance to fulfill their demands, which included release of anti-Posco leader, Abhya Shaoo, who is now in jail, setting up of polling booths in Dhinkia and Gobindpur and restraining police from arresting anti-Posco activists.