As a part of its endeavour to mobilise support of the locals for the Rs 54,000-crore Posco project, the district administration in Jagatsinghpur has directed the sarpanchs of three panchayats- Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadkujang- to conduct Pallisabha.
The objective of organizing Pallisabha, a village level consultative meet, is to seek the opinion of the local villagers on handing over of the forest land to Posco India for its proposed 12-million tonne per annum steel plant.
The sarpanchs have been asked to give reports on their respective Pallisabhas to the district administration by February 15, said Murlidhar Swain, block development officer of Erasama.
The district administration has kicked off the process of garnering local support for the Posco steel project after the company got the forest clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests.
The Posco steel project needs 4004 acres of land out of which 3586 acres are state land. Within this patch, 2900 acres are categorized as forest land.
The villagers of Dhinkia and Gobindpur have encroached on this forest land and planted betel vines, cashew and other crops. Officials of Posco have sought the support of the district administration to demolish these crops and give compensation to the farmers against crop loss.
Sisir Mohapatra, sarpanch of Dhinkia and leader of Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti (PPSS) said, the Dhinkia panchyat would conduct its Pallisabha on February 4 to seek the opinion of villagers.
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However, he accused the government of violating the forest rights under Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act, 2006 by giving forest clearance to Posco.
On the other hand, the pro-Posco leaders like Nirvaya Samntray, Tamil Pradhan and others have questioned the merit of the district administration in conducting the Pallisabhas.
They opined that the decision to hold the Pallisabhas will create law and order problems at the Posco site.