<b>Rural Anger</b>: Posco looking at <b>other options</b>

Facing resistance from people who are likely to get displaced by its mega steel project near Paradip in Orissa, South Korean steel major Posco is looking at "other options".

"There are other options," Posco India chairman-cum-managing director Soung-Sik Cho said when asked about the company's future course of action if they failed to get the land.

Cho, who had a brief meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the secretariat last night, however, did not elaborate on the options being considered by the company.

Cho said the company had already started dialogue with people of the area for acquisition of land and "there are positive signs". He added that his company would never favour any move to acquire land by force. "We don't want use of force by the state government for land," he said.

The planned investment of Rs 52,000 crore by Posco for its 12 million tonne project is the biggest-ever FDI proposed in India.

Inhabitants of 11 villages under self-governing bodies (panchayat) of Dhinkia, Gadakujanga and Nuagaon have been resisting the move for land acquisition in the area, and have set up a 'Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti' (PPSS) to lead the movement.

The move has also been backed by CPI as party General Secretary A B Bardhan recently announced here that his party wanted Posco to shift the proposed project from the selected site.

Posco had asked for 4,004 acre on the sea coast of which 3,566 belonged to the state government. The rest 438 acre is privately owned. A large number of people are living on government land, which they now demanded to be recorded in their favour.