Work continues at Posco site in Odisha

The construction of boundary wall along the demarcated line for 1,703 acre land handed over to Posco-India by Odisha government in Jagatsinghpur district continued for the second day today.
The work, entrusted to a contractor by the steel major, is being undertaken at the proposed site for the mega project with the help of locals, particularly youths from the affected area, a Posco-India field official said.
"Posco company has entrusted us the task of ensuring smooth construction of the boundary wall and we are extending necessary help," youth leader Prasant Behera said.
However, a pro-Posco leader Tamil Pradhan resented the move alleging that Posco was creating a rift among villagers by engaging the village youths for construction work.

The work was stalled for about an hour today as pro-Posco people opposed the move demanding finalisation of package for rehabilitation and convening the meeting by Revenue Divisional Commission (RDC) for for the purpose.
Odisha government had handed over 1,703 acre of its 2,700 acre acquired land to Posco-India for its proposed first phase eight mtpa mega steel plant near Paradip. The company required a total of 4,004 acre of land to set up a 12 mtpa steel plant at an investment of Rs 51,000 crore.

Work at the proposed plant site of Posco-India began yesterday about five months after the state government completed land acquisition of over 2,700 acre.

Earlier, the Jagatsinghpur district administration was undertaking the construction work but now it was being done by Posco-India without involvement of the district administration and the police, sources said.
"We have no information about work undertaken by Posco- India in the proposed plant site area," district administration sources said.