Posco protests take a knock

Clashes at the site over the last couple of years had left hundreds of people injured. In May and October last year, some officials of the company were held hostage for hours by the protestors. With tension simmering around the project site, the area resembled a police cantonment.

At an international seminar on steel-making this year, Posco India managing director Soung Sik Cho said people needed to open their eyes to the possibilities the steel plant could offer them.

For impoverished Orissa, the importance of the deal cannot be overstated. Orissa, which has 25 per cent of the country’s iron ore and over 90 per cent of chrome ore, has Rs 5 lakh crore in investments waiting at its doorstep.

The region has been infamous for its gut-wrenching poverty, natural calamities and violence over ethnic and communal issues. A project as ambitious as Posco’s plant would not only funnel millions of dollars for developmental work but also spawn jobs for the unemployed.

Even though the Centre and the state Government worked overtime to give regulatory approvals, their measures failed to address the concerns of hundreds farmers who are worried that the land for the steel plant would deprive them of fertile agricultural ground.

In 2006, the state Government announced a rehabilitation package for 450 farmers and fishermen, but the locals were not convinced. “First, they’ll make us homeless and then give us some money. If the company wants to build its plant let it do so over our bodies,” said a villager.

However, the project was stalled due to reasons other than the popular resistance as well. The company could not acquire the land it needed, as it did not have the clearance to use over 3,000 acres of forestland in the project area.

Though the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had cleared Posco’s proposal for diversion of forestland for the steel plant, the Supreme Court last year said all clearance by the FAC would be reviewed by the Centrally Empowered Committee of the Court. The SC cleared the use of forestland in August this year.

Another roadblock for the Posco project has been cleared after the Orissa Government completed the hearing on granting a prospecting license (PL) for the Khandadhar iron ore reserve in Sundargarh district for which Posco is one of the contenders. Though the state Government had recommended Posco for the PL over Khandadhar in December 2007, public sector company Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd dragged the matter to the High Court.

Posco executives and senior government officials believe that the roadblocks to the project have been mostly cleared with the arrest of Sahu.

The story so far

June 22, 2005: Posco signs MoU with Orissa Government for setting up a 12 million-tonne steel project in Jagatsinghpur district.

September, 2005: Posco applies for prospecting licence for mining.

November, 2005: Protests start in at the project site. State Government serves notices for land acquisition, but officials can’t enter three gram panchayats — Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadakujanga — as villagers erect barricades.

October, 2006: Medha Patkar leads a dharna of anti-Posco protesters outside the residence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

April, 2007: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asks Naveen to expedite land acquisition.

May, 2007: Three Posco executives held hostage by villagers.

October, 2007: Four Posco executives, including three South Koreans, abducted by villagers. They are later released.

November, 2007: Violent clash between pro-Posco and anti-Posco villagers in Jagastsinghpur leave at least 20 injured.

June, 2008: Centre slams Orissa over delay in Posco project.

August, 2008: Supreme Court clears Posco using over 3,000 acres of forestland for its steel plant.

Posco India fact file

Location: Erasama block in

Jagatsinghpur district

Land required: 4,004 acres

Plant capacity: 12 million tonnes per annum The 12 MTPA integrated steelworks will be completed in three phases of 4 MTPA each. In Phase I, hot rolled coil (2.5MT) and slab (1.5 MT) will be produced.

Iron Ore required: 20 million tonnes per annum for annual steel production of 12 million tonnes over 30 years

Jobs: An estimated 48,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region.

Deadlines: Phase I was expected to conclude in 2011-12; Phase II to was to be completed 3 years after Phase I; and Phase III will be commissioned within 3 years of Phase II’s completion.

Estimated Investment for Phase I: Rs 16,650 crore