BJP urges govt to stop forcible land acquisition for Posco

The former BJP president and MP, Rajnath Singh today urged the Orissa government to stop land acquisition at the Posco steel project site till the new Land Acquisition Amendment Bill is passed by the Parliament.

“I urge the state government to stop the forcible land acquisition at the Posco site and wait till the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill is passed in the Parliament in the coming monsoon session”, said Singh.

He, however, added, there is no harm in industrialization and land acquisition for the big ticket projects but the industrialists should directly go to the farmers and acquire land with their consent.

Meanwhile, state industries minister, Raghunath Mohanty clarified that the state government was not using any force to acquire land for the Posco project.

“We have not used any force and there will be no use of force to acquire land for the Posco project. Around 200 locals of Dhinkia and Gobindpur have agreed to cede land for the project and they have given their consent in writing to the Jagatsinghpur district administration. The state government has already acquired about 2000 acres of land for the Posco project”, Mohanty said.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “I have often said that we believe in peaceful industrialization. We are constantly monitoring the Posco land acquisition work”.

Meanwhile, the state BJP unit is planning to send a delegation to the Posco site for assessing the ground realities.

Expressing concern over the spurt in scams surfaced in the state lately, like mining scam, dal scam and diversion of funds allocated for NREGS and tribal welfare, Singh said, the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik must write to the Centre and ask for thorough investigation by CBI into all these scams. He also flayed the CM for not complying with the High Court directions on investigating corruption cases in the state.

He also charged the state government for allegedly diverting the flow of rivers for the industrial purposes that is adversely affecting the people in the state.

The former BJP president is on a visit to the state to attend the 'Bhrastachar Hatao Samavesh', an anti-corruption campaign started by the state BJP unit against the ruling BJD government in the state.