The Jagatsinghpur district administration has made elaborate arrangements to resume socio-economic and horticulture survey for the Posco steel project from Gobindpur village in Dhinkia panchayat tomorrow morning.
The ongoing survey at the project site had been discontinued for some days after the visit of the survey teams to Gadkujang and Nuagaon panchayats as the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) vehemently opposed the entry of officials into Gobindpur and Dhinkia, two of their strongholds.
However, PPS has agreed to allow peaceful survey of the villages following talks with chief minister Naveen Patnaik last Sunday. Following this the barricades which had been built by PPSS to bar the entry of officials into these two villages have been removed. “We will extend cooperation to the official team for the survey work”, said PPSS president Abhay Sahoo. “However, this does not mean that we have climbed down from our original demand for shifting of the Posco project and our agitation for the same will continue”, he added.
In fact, PPSS has decided to observe June 22 next, when the state government’s MoU with Posco will complete 5 years, as a Black Day.
Meanwhile, official source said, eight survey teams will be pressed into service to continue the socio-economic, forest and horticulture surveys without the deployment of police forces.
