Posco will shift rather than have a 'bloodbath'

South Korean steel maker Posco, whose plans for a Rs 51,000-crore mega plant in Orissa have run into rough weather on account of opposition from local groups, said today that it would rather shift the project to another location than allow a bloodbath.

Posco spokesperson Sashank Patnaik said that the board of directors, which reviewed the progress of the Orissa project at their meeting in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, preferred to shift the project to some other place rather than invite a "bloodbath" over it.

The company was responding to a report about a letter from Communist Party of India General Secretary A B Bardhan to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apprehending a "bloodbath" if the Orissa government took "repressive measures" to acquire land for the Posco project.

The Posco spokesperson said, "Posco has come here to do business and not to create social disturbance like what happened at Kalinga Nagar in Orissa's Jajpur district and Nandigram in West Bengal."

Concern over the future of the project has been growing following protests by local groups and company staff have been abducted and released unharmed twice in the past fortnight by anti-project groups.

Posco board executives met with Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and some top government officials in New Delhi on Friday to discuss the matter and try and sort out pending issues of land acquisition and mining lease.

The chief minister said that his government was working on a programme to address all aspects of the project and that the issues would be sorted out in consultation with the Union government.

Posco requires about 4,000 acres for the project, but it has been able to buy only about a quarter of it. The chief minister had said that villagers who may be displaced by the project would be compensated adequately.

Posco Chief Executive Officer Ku-taek Lee had said after the meeting on Friday that construction work for the 12mtpa greenfield steel plant would begin on April 1, 2008.

Today, the chief minister said, "POSCO would like to set up its project with the co-operation of local people. If they (residents) do not agree with the project, the company may think otherwise."