Almost after five years of fierce opposition by the local people, the state government officials were on Thursday allowed to carry out socio-economic survey work at the Posco steel project site at Kujang near Paradip in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district.
At least four teams conducted survey at Dhinkia and Nuagaon gram panchayat till the evening without any opposition from the local residents.
The survey work could happen as the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), the major anti-displacement organisation that had been spearheading the agitation against the South Korean steel major, softened its stand and agreed to cooperate with the government for and “amicable solution” of the Posco problems.
Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti chairman Abhaya Sahoo and his aides were present during the survey work. Despite its cooperation in the survey work, the PPSS on Thursday made it clear that it was firm on its demand for shifting of the project site and announced that it would observe June 22, the fifth anniversary of Posco-India company, as black-day to register its protest against the said project.
On June 22, 2005, Posco had signed its memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Orissa government to establish a 12-million-tonne integrated steel plant with an investment of Rs 52,000 crore.
However, the project could not make much headway due to stiff resistance by the local people who contended they would be thrown out of their means of livelihood by the proposed industry.
In another significant development, the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), a pro-Posco forum, is scheduled to meet chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday. Senior JCC leaders like Anandi Rout, Tamil Pradhan, Nakul Sahoo and Nirbhaya Samantaray will discuss the prevailing situation at the project site.