FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For More Information Contact: Sirisha Naidu <sirishacnaidu@gmail.com>
or Ravi <ra.ravishankar@gmail.com>

June 27, 2010: The Mining Zone People Solidarity Group (MZPSG) strongly condemns the stated intent of the Orissa government to renew its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian subsidiary of the Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO) of South Korea. The MoU, originally signed on June 22, 2005, proposed an investment of US $12 billion for the setting up of an integrated steel plant and related mining, water and transportation projects. About 4,000 acres of land was identified for the steel project, a further 2,000 acres for township development, and unspecified “additional land pockets for development” for related projects.

The Orissa government and POSCO are marketing the project as a source of prosperity and employment, when it is really a massive resource-grab by a multinational corporation, a resource grab that dispossesses the affected communities of their homes and livelihoods. About three-fourths of the land  sanctioned for the steel plant is officially classified as forest lands, and diversion of such land would have to satisfy the strictures of the Forest Rights Act. However, in its zeal to clear the way for the project, the Orissa government has willfully violated the FRA, held sham “public hearings” under heavy army presence to muzzle opposition, and working alongside thugs hired by POSCO, has unleashed large-scale violence against the affected communities. Far from fulfilling its constitutional duties and holding POSCO to the law of the land, the state government has acted more as a ‘dalaal’, a facilitator and enforcer for  POSCO. As MZPSG collective member Tathagata Sengupta observed: “The state’s intent was laid bare in the wording of the MoU, section 7(iv) of which reads: ‘The Government of Orissa will facilitate the process of obtaining various approvals expeditiously for the Company.’ It was no secret that POSCO and the state were on the same side and have since acted in concert to crush opposition from the affected citizens, the very citizens whose interests the state is supposed to protect.”

In its bid to ‘facilitate’ the project, the state government also commissioned socio-economic cost-benefit analyses that come to glowing conclusions about the benefits to the state. But these analyses are deeply flawed. They ignore the reality of the thriving local economy, severely underestimate the costs, and  exaggerate the alleged benefits of the project. The environmental impact studies have been equally flawed and ignore many obvious factors. For instance, the possibility of flooding due to the captive port at Paradeep and drought caused by the water-guzzling steel plant (to the tune of about 300 million liters per day). In view of multiple, severe violations of legal process, MZPSG initiated a petition drive <http://www.petitiononline.com/p210610/petition.html> on the eve ofthe MoU expiration demanding its non-renewal. Despite the short notice, the petition has been endorsed by more than three hundred individuals and organizations. The petition, addressed to Mr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, Mr. Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister ofOrissa, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Environment and Forests, and Ms. Sonia Gandhi, Chair of the National Advisory Council, expresses concern at the authoritarian actions of the state and central governments and urges proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act.
Mining Zone People Solidarity Group is a global collective of teachers, students and professionals of South Asian origin. The collective aims to assess the impacts of large-scale mining in India on the lives of communities and ecosystems, and to develop and share strategies in confronting the state apparatus and the mining industry about their unacceptable policies and practices. Toward this end, the collective will actively support affected communities in the assertion of their rights and advocate politically and legally enforceable measures that would hold the mining industry and state accountable to communities affected by exploration and mining.

Related Links:
* <http://www.orissa.gov.in/posco/POSCO-MoU.htm>
* <http://www.forestrightsact.com/corporate-projects/item/12-the-posco-project>
* <http://orissaconcerns.net>

Related posts:

1. “Do Not Renew the POSCO MoU” Petition
2. Posco MoU to expire on 22nd June
3. Orissa HC rejects government’s recommendation on Khandadhar mines to Posco