Posco supporters return home from transit camp

At least 30 of the 52 displaced pro-Posco families, who were forced to leave when violence hit Odisha's Jagatsingpur district seven years ago, have returned home, an official said Sunday.

"The villagers were living in a transit camp, about seven km from Patna village. They returned to their homes Saturday," district Superintendent of Police Satyabrata Bhoi told IANS.

"All of them will be provided houses under the state government's Mo Kudia scheme. The administration is taking steps so that remaining villagers too return to their homes and lead a normal life," Bhoi said.

"The government is providing a sustenance allowance of Rs.2,400 to each family, besides a polythene sheet," he added.

The families were driven out from the village by anti-Posco activists for supporting the project.

The government, in association with Posco, was providing a monthly allowance to each of the displaced families when they were living at the transit camp.

"Now that they decided to oppose the project, we welcomed them," an anti Posco-leader said.

Posco's proposed 12 million tonnes per annum steel plant - the largest foreign investment in India - is to come up near the port town of Paradip, 120 km from here.

The local administration claimed it has already acquired the land required for the company to expedite the project work.