Posco: Pause in land acquisition

PPSS president Abhay Sahoo vowed that the group would intensify stir from ‘Palli’ (village) to Delhi’ to protest forcible land acquisition at Gobindpur and villagers,including children and women,are ready to sacrifice their life for their land.

Over next few days,activists like Medha Patkar would be in Dhinkia to show solidarity with local people. “The officials illegally demolished 37 betelvines in last three days at Gobindpur. Our people are now rebuilding it,” Sahoo said.

The eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation,which was threatening to spiral out of control,drew criticism from several quarters Including Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh,who urged that environment and forest clearance process should not be used to fight other battles like land acquisition,compensation and livelihoods. On Monday,senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh called for a halt in all land acquisition till the new Land Acqusition Act was passed by Parliament.

Jagatsinghpur District Collector N C Jena called off the land acquisition in Dhinkia GP for next five days in view of the local Rajo festival starting from June 14.

But the police forces would remain not very far from Dhinkia,the epicenter of anti-Posco protest. Despite a halt in land acquisition,school students and women are continuing with their protest.