Begin work with land you possess,govt tells Posco

Posco is battling stiff resistance from the left-backed Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samity comprising residents of Dhinkia,Nuagaon and Gobindapur villages within its project site. Last week Orissa Chief Minister Navin Patnaik had announced his government’s intention on telling the South Korean behemoth to forego its right over the said land,which has been witnessing persistent protests.

Making out a case for the South Korean steel giant to revisit its land acquisition methodology,Chaturvedi reasoned,“Posco should understand the situation and take steps accordingly. There needs to be a delicate balance between meeting tribal welfare and land requirement.”

The company requires about 5,525 acres of land for the entire project. It includes 4,004.19 acres for the project site and the balance for the township at Paradeep. Of this 4,004.19 acres 2,958.79 acres is government forestland,607.74 acres is non-government forest land and 437.66 acres private land. The project has been mired in controversy from the day Posco inked a memorandum of understanding with Orissa for setting up the plant in 2005. While facing hostile protests from local gram panchayats over its land acquisition efforts,there have been occasions when Posco executives were held backfrom visiting the site.

Even though the union ministry of environment and forests has accorded forest clearances in two stages to Posco,the state government would have to settle the forest dwellers before handing over the forest area to the company. But Posco’s reluctance to part with the land in three villages as it was crucial to build infrastructure to meet its logistical needs.