SC verdict: Anti-Posco protesters to squat on forest land

The Supreme Court verdict allowing diversion of forest land for a 12-million-tonne steel plant by South Korea’s Posco might have brought cheers to the company but it has also provided the project’s opponents a rallying point.

The Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), the anti-Posco brigade that has been agitating against the project for the last three years, has resolved to intensify its stir.

The committee has worked out a plan — occupy the vacant land before the government hands it over to the company. It has, meanwhile, identified 1,500 acres out of the 3,097 acres set free by the apex court for occupation and decided to distribute it among the residents of Dhinkia, Gobindpur, Nuagaon, Noliashai, Gadkujang and other villages of the site area.

 

At a meeting in Gobindpur on Sunday, PPSS leader Abhay Sahoo urged the villagers to start construction on this land to make the acquisition process tough for the company.

However, many villagers in the site area are confused about their future. “We had great expectations from the Supreme Court. We have been living in this place for many years, how can we leave this land for the company?” said Sundari Devi of Gobindpur village.

Sahoo, however, appears nonchalant. “All the people, including women and children, will continue their fight against the Posco project and they are ready to shed their blood,” he said.

The PPSS has formed a 15-member committee to strengthen its drive against the government’s land acquisition plan. The Supreme Court has allowed diversion of 3,095 acres forest land of three panchayats — Dhinikia, Nuagaon and Gadkujang.

According to Babuli Rout, an anti-Posco leader from Gobindpur, this land, which is available for other purposes, can be distributed among the local villagers.

On Sunday, more than 1,500 acres were allocated to the villagers of Gobindpur and Dhinkia.

According to rules, a person who stays on government land for 30 years by taking advance possession from the sub-collector concerned, cannot be displaced in accordance with the Orissa Prevention Encroachment Act 8 (A).The special land acquisition officer, Nrusingh Swain, said no one in the Posco site area had taken advance possession permission from the sub-collector, and it would not be difficult to acquire the land from the illegal occupiers.

President of PPSS, Shaoo said, PPSS will not only fight against the Posco steel project, but also work to protect the local forest area notwithstanding SC order dereserving the forest patch. The activists of PPSS are on mission visiting the forest areas in Dhinika, Gobindpur creating awareness among people in this regard.

They convinced the villagers depletion of forest would cause sea erosion and damage their habitat. PPSS has decided to form forest protection committees in all the villages.