Locals burn six containers being used as Posco camp office

Alleging delay in fulfilment of their demands, locals in Posco's proposed steel project area today burnt six containers being used as camp office and damaged a portion of company's boundary wall in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur district, police said.
"Angry villagers have burnt some steel containers and damaged a portion of Posco's boundary wall near Nuagaon," Additional Superintendent of Police Paradip, Madabananda Sahu said.
The South Korean steel major had kept at least seven such mobile containers fitted with state-of-the-art electrical and electronic equipment for use as camp office by officials of Posco and IDCO in its proposed project site near Nuagaon.

The electrical and electronic equipment and official documents kept in six of the seven containers were gutted, the sources said, adding tension prevailed in the area.
The locals are alleging delay in fulfilment of their charter of demands including holding of Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC) meeting and implementation of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013.
The project protagonists held a meeting at Nuagaon yesterday and decided not to allow anyone from Posco, district administration or the police into the area in connection with the company work. They have even erected a bamboo gate at the entrance to Nuagaon to prevent entry of anyone from today.

Villagers alleged that the company was constructing the boundary wall in the area without fulfilling their demands. Besides, it was hampering peace and brotherhood in the area by luring a few youths to cooperate with them, they said.
Meanwhile, people who had extended their cooperation to help the company undertake infrastructure development work in the area were now up in arms against the company's move even as those opposing the project were keenly watching the developments.