Opposition parties join hands against Posco project
Special Correspondent
The Hindu
- Police enter Gobindpur village to facilitate survey work
- Leaders of six parties condemn police action against agitators
- Tension continues to prevail in Dhinkia and nearby villages
BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Jagatsinghpur police entered Gobindpur village on Thursday to make way for the administration to carry out survey work for the proposed steel project of Posco India Private Limited, senior leaders of six Opposition political parties addressed a protest gathering in the capital city and announced their support to the villagers opposing the steel project for the past five years.
The villagers who have been demanding shifting of the site of the Posco project from the gram panchayats of Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadakujang in Erasama area should not feel that they were alone in their struggle against displacement, the leaders said.
Those who addressed the day-long protest dharna on the Mahatma Gandhi Marg of the city belonged to the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India(Marxist), Forward Bloc, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
The leaders of the six parties, who were scheduled to discuss the Posco issue with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday evening, also condemned the police action against the agitators and demanded immediate withdrawal of the police to restore peace.
Addressing the gathering, secretary of the State Committee of CPI(M) Janardan Pati criticised the Chief Minister for holding frequent meetings with the Posco officials while never bothering to talk to the people opposing the establishment of the steel project in their locality.
Meanwhile, tension continued to prevail in Dhinkia and nearby villages with the police reportedly making attempts to arrest the activists of the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, the CPI-backed organisation spearheading the anti-displacement agitation.
President of the Sangram Samiti Abhay Sahoo criticised the administration for using armed police to terrorise the villagers opposing the steel project.
Reiterating their demand for shifting of the steel project to any other location to save thousands of villagers from displacement, Mr. Sahoo said that the agitation will be intensified in the coming days despite the government trying hard to create a divide between the locals on the issue.
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