In Odisha, more than 500 people, comprising activists and leaders of five political parties, held a demonstration at Bhubaneswar on Monday and courted arrest to protest forcible land acquisition for proposed steel project by South Korean major POSCO. The activists came in a procession carrying posters and banners and shouted slogans against the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government. They also held a meeting near the state assembly premises. The political leaders who courted arrest belonged to the Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Forward Bloc, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Samajwadi Party. Police also arrested Jagatsinghpur Member of Parliament of CPI Bibhu Prasad Tarai and his party MLA Adikanda Sethi and later released all the arrested persons. The leaders of these political parties opposed forcible land acquisition for POSCO project and demanded shifting of the project site to another area. POSCO had signed a pact with the state government in 2005 for a 12 million tonne steel plant — the largest foreign investment in India near the port town of Paradip, about 120 km from state capital Bhubaneswar. The company requires about 4,004 acres of land for the project out of which 2,900 acres is forest land. The activists were angry as the government acquired some land earlier this month despite opposition from the landholders. Meanwhile, land acquisition for the project continued in the proposed site today by the government. As many as 50 bettle vines were destroyed and Rs 84 lakh compensation was paid to the affected farmers. The Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, an anti-Posco body, has warned the land acquisition officials not to enter Nuagaon and Dhinkia of the project area. Anti-Posco activists have been guarding the bordering areas of Gobindpur area and decided not to allow the land acquisition officials to enter their villages.