Posco: 200 held,land acquisition continues

The land acquisition drive for Poscos Rs 54,000 crore integrated steel project continued smoothly in Jagatsinghpur district on Monday even as about 200 leaders and workers of five political parties,including the CPI and CPM,were arrested while trying to enter Orissa secretariat as part of their civil disobedience agitation against the move.

Demanding relocation of the proposed Posco project from three gram panchayats of Dhinkia,Gobindpur and Gadakujang,CPI state secretary Dibakar Nayak and others marched towards the secretariat on Monday morning. They were arrested. DCP Nitinjit Singh said all of them had been freed on personal release bond.

At Jagatsinghpur,the district administration continued its land acquisition drive by acquiring 50 betelvines in Nuagaon area of Gadakujang gram panchyat. District administration officials,however,admitted that the real challenge would come when the agitators would try to enter Dhinkia and Gobindpur villages. These two villages account for 60 per cent of the total betelvines in the project area.