Posco: Administration ready after 6-day lull

BHUBANESWAR: As a truce with the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), spearheading the anti-Posco movement, appears remote, the Government is planning to resume land acquisition from Friday.After a six-day lull, following resistance from the people of Dhinkia panchayat, the Jagatsingpur district administration on Thursday said it will resume land acquisition if the weather condition improves. ‘’The Government has not set any date to restart the process. It is up to the district administration to decide for which there is no need for Government permission,’’ Chief Secretary BK Patnaik told mediapersons.The PPSS has intensified its agitation against land acquisition for the steel project by preventing the entry of Government officials to Dhinkia. It has put up a three-layered human barricade involving schoolchildren.PPSS president Abhaya Sahoo on Thursday reiterated that the local people are fully prepared to resist any move of the Government and they are determined not to allow Government officials into Dhinkia.The Opposition political parties have cautioned the Government against forcible land acquisition. Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Niranjan Patnaik said the Centre has advised the the Government against forcible acquisition.Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has made it clear to the State Government that Central clearance to the project should not be construed as a ‘licence’ for forcible land acquisition.The newly-appointed PCC chief said a team of Congress leaders will visit Dhinkia to assess the situation.The BJP has also warned the Government against application of force for land acquisition. Any move by the Government for forcible acquisition will be resisted, BJP spokesperson Ashok Sahu said. A 15-member team of the BJP will visit the proposed project site on June 19.Steel and Mines Minister Raghunath Mohanty reiterated Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s assertion that his Government believes in peaceful industrialisation.The Government is making all-possible efforts to acquire land in a peaceful manner, he added. At present, 20 platoons of police forces are deployed in the proposed Posco site.