In Orissa, land acquisition for the Rs 52,000-crore Posco steel project is likely to be resumed in Dhinkia and Gobindpur of Jagatsinghpur district today. The process was stopped on Friday following incessant rains. Land acquisition officials and a large number of security forces reached the troubled Gobindpur early this morning even as hundreds of villagers, including school children, women and elderly persons under the banner of the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) are assembling at the Gobindpur outskirts for defending forceful acquisition of their farm lands for the project.Additional District Magistrate of Jagatsighpur, Saroj Kant Choudhury, told AIR that all preparations are going on to enter Dhinkia and Gobindpur. He, however, said it was still raining in the project area and the land acquisition officials were waiting for their next course of action.Meanwhile, social activist Swami Agnivesh is visiting Dhinkia this morning to address the agitating anti-Posco villagers. He is also accompanied by a number of civil society members. A delegation of the Congress party is likely to visit the project site to provide moral support to the agitating villagers while a BJP delegation will be visiting the area on Sunday. Apart from the ruling BJD, all political parties have been backing the agitating anti-Posco activists and the villagers.
News On AIR | June 18, 2011 8:44 AM
Land acquisition for Posco to resume in Dhinkia