In what may pour cold water over the Jagatsinghpur district administration's plan to resume land acquisition for the Posco project, the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), the organization spearheading the anti-Posco movement, has vowed to stage an agitation on Wednesday at Balitutha, the entry point of the project to bar the entry of officials.
"PPSS activists are hell bent on opposing the district administration's decision to resume land acquisition at the Posco site from tomorrow. The villagers including women will stage an agitation at Balitutha from 6 AM to prevent the entry of officials to start land acquisition”, said PPSS leader cum panchyat samiti member, Prakash Jena.
Meanwhile, hundreds of anti-land displacement activists including women from different parts of the state like Kalinga Nagar, Kalahandi, Koraput, Sundergarh and also from other states like Jharkhand have congregated at Dhinkia to ensure success of the agitation.
"We will restrict the entry of the district officials and police at Balitutha tomorrow to foil the dream of the state government to acquire land at the Posco site. If the police uses force, the government would be responsible for the consequences”, said PPSS leader Abhaya Sahu.
Commenting on land acquisition work for Posco, Chief Secretary B K Patnaik said, “It is up to the district administration as to when they decide to start land acquisition for the Posco project. The district administration is holding talks with the people to resolve various issues”.
To make matters worse for the district administration, the United Action Committee (UAC), a pro-Posco outfit active at the project site, has also decided to boycott the land acquisition process.
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The organization claimed to have convinced the villagers not to go for identification of betel vines.
The UAC conducted its meeting at Gadkujang under the chairmanship of its leader Anadi Rout. UAC has decided to boycott the land acquisition process, alleging that the administration has shown callous attitude to fulfill their long-standing demands for the last three years.
UAC secretary Nirvaya Samantray said, “We have convinced the villagers of Bhuiyanpal, Polang, Nuagaon, Gadkujang, Noliashai and other villages not to go near betel vines site to identify their vines during land acquisition and also advised them not to receive any cheque towards compensation.
“UAC will not cooperate with the administration in the land acquisition process. If officials force the villagers to demolish their betel vines by threat of police forces, UAC will adopt violent methods to protest the land acquisition process”, warned Samantray.