Land acquisition for Posco resumes

The Orissa government today resumed its global positioning system -based resurvey for the proposed Rs 54,000-crore Posco steel project near Paradip, following a three-day halt, after the United Action Committee (UAC), a pro-Posco outfit, agreed to lend support. Following state agriculture minister Damodar Rout and local legislator Prasant Muduli’s assurance to UAC members that after discussions with the state government, their demands would be fulfilled within next 10 days, they agreed to cooperate in the exercise.

Nakula Sahoo, sarpanch of Gadakujang panchayat, said, “We have faith in the administration and the local legislator to resolve our issues after discussions with the state government. So, we allowed survey and land acquisition process to start today.” “The district administration has taken the demands of UAC members into consideration and their issues would be hopefully resolved after a decision is taken at the government level. Survey is going on peacefully with the cooperation of villagers,” said Jagatsinghpur District Collector Narayan Jena. Special Land Acquisition Officer Nrusingh Swain said 30 beneficiaries had demolished their betel vines in Polang and Bhuiyanpal villages, under Gadakujang panchayat, and Rs 50-lakh compensation had been disbursed today.