In yet another setback to the beleaguered Posco steel project, the members of the United Action Committee (UAC), a purportedly pro-Posco outfit, has threatened to bar the entry of the company officials to the project site unless their longstanding 29-point charter of demands is fulfilled.
Sources said UAC, which had backed the Rs 54000-crore Posco project for the past four years, has of late vented its wrath against the project.
The UAC held a public meeting at Nuagaon panchayat on Sunday where it took a dig at the Posco rehabilitation package, which according to the UAC members, was finalized without the consent of the affected villagers.
The UAC activists also criticized the district administration for ignoring their 29-point charter of demands.
The demands include restoration of normalcy in the trouble torn villages of Dhinkia and Gobindpur, resettlement of the 70 families who were forced to quit these villages and withdrawal of illegal deployment of police forces in what they termed as peaceful zones.
The UAC members have alleged that neither the Posco authorities nor the district administration are negotiating with the affected villagers on issue like compensation, rehabilitation package, employment and other issues.
They are of the view that negotiations on these issues are necessary to restore normalcy to the trouble torn villages of Dhinkia and Gobindpur.
The UAC activists pointed out tta the 70-odd families who have been compelled to quit these two villages due to the alleged torture by the anti-Posco activists have been living in Posco transit colonies without for the past two years without education, health care and other facilities.
“The maintenance allowance of Rs 4000 per month which is being given to each of the families living in the Posco transit colonies is insufficient to maintain their livelihood.
Neither the district administration nor the Posco authorities have heard the grievances of these families”, the UAC activists stated.
The UAC activists conducted a mass rally and congregated at the Nuagaon school field to protest the Posco project.
The UAC meeting was presided over by noted educationist Anadi Sahu. Noted UAC leaders like Tamil Pradhan, Nirvaya Samantray, Nakul Sahoo and Asit Swain were present at the meeting.
