"We have started land acquisition today peacefully. The

administration demolished betel vines of farmers who have given written request for the same. Though villagers are in support of the project, a handful of outsiders create problem here," Jagatsinghpur district collector S K Mallick told reporters. Superintendent of Police, Jagatsinghpur, Satyabrata Bhoi blamed Sahu and accused him of instigating the villagers against land acquisition. "Police has been maintaining maximum restraint and not responding to the provocation of the agitators. There is absolutely no violence," the SP said. Asked on the reason behind the heavy deployment of force in villages, the SP clarified, "Police has been providing security to the people who voluntarily offer their land for the project. PPSS activists threaten the villagers who give their land for the project." Police also accused the PPSS of involving kids in the agitation and using them as a shield. Meanwhile, leaders of various political parties reached the proposed plant site area as a mark of solidarity towards the protestors. "We are not opposed to Posco project, but we are against the location of the proposed steel plant. We demand shifting of the location," Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik said.