Posco project work suspended for two days

An uneasy calm prevailed in the troubled Nuagaon panchayat in the proposed Posco project site today as the district administration, different village forest committees and irate villagers reassessed the situation after yesterday’s police action during the felling of trees in the area.

The police had resorted to lathicharge yesterday on the members of Sanghaipai Mathsahi village forest committee and land losers at Polang while they were opposing the cutting down of trees on the land acquired for the Posco project demanding compensation and rehabilitation. Eight persons including six women were injured in the incident.

The situation was, however, normal today as the district administration has suspended the ground leveling and boundary wall construction work of the Posco project for two days to avert any untoward incidence in the project site.

There are seven village forest committees in Nuagaon panchayat engaged in the protection of forest in their respective villages. The members of these committees and aggrieved land losers today held meetings at Nuagaon and other places to take stock the situation and console the injured. They reaffirmed their resolve to oppose the Posco project and stop forcible cutting down of trees till all their demands are fulfilled.

Special Land Acquisition Officer, Nrusingh Swain said, the district administration has suspended the work in the project site for two days, on Sunday and Monday, after the yesterday’s incident. He informed that the work would resume from Tuesday with the consent of the villagers and after restoration of normalcy. Meanwhile, the United Action Committee, a pro-Posco outfit active in the area, condemned the yesterday’s police action in an emergency meeting at Gadakujang today.

They also criticized the contractors engaged in the construction work at the Posco site for misuse of UAC name in the distribution of job cards to unemployed youths in Nuagaon and Gadakujang panchayats assuring them an earning of Rs 6000 per month. Kharavel Swain, a former MP and president of Utkal Bharati, a regional political outfit, visited Nuagaon and Gadakujang panchayats and interacted with pro-Posco villagers and activists of UAC. He condemned the police action on innocent land losers. He, however, sought the support of the villagers for the Posco project saying it should come up with the consent of the villagers, not at the gun point.