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POSCO agitation against land acquisition
Protests continue to intensify against land acquisition for the proposed 12 billion dollar POSCO plant in Govindpur
in Orissa. After warning the government of dire consequences in a statement on
Friday, the 17th June 2011 five political parties including the CPI, CPM and even civil
society activists reached Govindpur today to express solidarity with the protestors.
Orissa government has re-deployed police force and hinted at action if
protesters continue to prevent movement of officials at the proposed
steel project site. Currently, around 23 platoons of policemen are camping in the area. They
are planning to use alternative routes and demolish betel vine farms in Govindpur.
Nearly 2000 women, children and men have formed a human barricade to
prevent the entry of police and administration in the proposed plant
area, in what they say is a last ditch attempt to protect their land.
Some of them have been lying on the hot sand for hours, desperate to
stop the police from entering their village. "Our parents have been agitating for last six years. We are now ready to
die before they do. Naveen Patanik govt wants to snatch away our betel
vines and our parents' livelihood," said one of them.
For the last six years people in Dhinkia Panchayat have been demanding
relocation of the project. They say it will deprive them of their major
source of income from the betel vines spread across nearly 3000 acres of
forest land. Last month, the Jairam Ramesh-led Environment Ministry gave
the go-ahead to the Korean steel giant to build the steel plant in the
state. "The children will die anyway. When we are uprooted and starved how will
they survive? All of us would prefer getting killed," a lady protesting there said.
Despite the heat, humid conditions and several threats by the police to
use force, the children and women refuse to budge. It is a do or die battle for the people in Govindpur and Dhinkia. They
say this is the last ditch effort to protect their land from being grabbed by corporate interests.
POSCO land acquisition off indefinitely
The Orissa government on Tuesday suspended land acquisition for the proposed 12 billion dollar POSCO plant in Govindpur
in Orissa indefinitely in view of widespread protests. Both civil
society and political parties have backed the anti-Posco drive,
pushed the Naveen Patnaik Government into a corner.
State's brute force force vs children at the POSCO agitation zone
It is force versus children in the battle for land to set up South Korean giant POSCO's proposed mega steel project in
Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district where the anti-displacement stir has
entered the decisive phase. "We involve children in the agitation to counter the state's brute force
which is trying to forcibly acquire land without consent of the farmers." PPSS President Abhay Sahu said.
About 300 children are leading the anti-POSCO agitation for last 12 days
as the state government deployed more than 600 armed security personnel
to enter into Dhinkia gram panchayat, considered as epicentre of the
six-year-old anti-displacement movement.
"I believe the children should never be used in agitation. The persons,
be it their parents, should be held responsible for using them in this
manner," Orissa's Women and Child Development (WCD) minister Anjali Behera said.
The little ones, however, have their own argument. "Can the state government or POSCO provide us a better future? It is our
parents who will sustain us. If they are going to lose livelihood, who
will give us protection," said 11-year-old Rosalin Patra, a class-VII
student of Gobindpur Upper Primary School. Like Rosalin, many students from Dhinkia High School and Patana Primary
School have 'voluntarily' joined the 'do-or-die battle' against POSCO
project. |
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Children in the agitation to counter the state's brute force
Hundreds of innocent children are acting at shields; by lying face-down
under the hot sun on land that belongs to their families. Daring the 20
platoon strong armed police force to try evict them by force. The anti POSCO movement is seeing 3 generations taking on the state.
Children form the first ring. The women and the old come next and finally the men a last desperate bid to stop the acquisition. They've
remained unmoved for 6 years by the state's compensation offer of upto
17 lakh rupees per acre of fertile agriculture land.
Swami Agnivesh opposed the "forceful" acquisition of land
Social activist Swami Agnivesh on 18th June 2011 opposed the "forceful" acquisition of land for the $12 billion Posco steel project
in Orissa , adding that he will take up the matter with Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh. Agnivesh, who spent Friday night with panic stricken villagers at the
project site in Jagatsinghpur district, said he will meet Manmohan Singh
and Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh to request them not
to allow the destruction of an agriculture-based economy for a multinational company.
Extending his solidarity to the villagers, he also joined them in their
demonstration against the project in the troubled Govindpur village.
Addressing a gathering of thousands, including women and children, he
said the government had no right to forcibly evict families who have
been earning their livelihood from land since generations.
"I am surprised that the government has been trying to demolish such a
well developed agrarian economy to set up a steel plant," he said.
The anti-Posco agitation in Orissa got a boost on June 21,
2011 with social activist Medha Patkar joining the villagers in their protest against the proposed $12 billion project in the coastal
district of Jagatsinghpur.
POSCO
to set up its 12-million-tonne-per-annum steel plant.
Posco, the world’s fourth-largest steel producer, signed an MoU with the
Orissa government in June 2005 to set up its 12-million-tonne-per-annum
greenfield steel plant. Of the total 4,004 acres required for the plant, about 3,000 acres is
forest area. The Union ministry gave clearance for diverting 1,253 hectares (3,100 acres) of forestland for the project, which was stalled
for nine months since August 2010, on the basis of the state government’s claims that no traditional forest dwellers lived in the
affected area.
Civil disobedience agitation
About 200 leaders and activists of five political parties on June 6, 2011 courted
arrest here while trying to enter into Orissa Secretariat as part of
their civil disobedience agitation against alleged forcible land acquisition for Posco project near
Paradip. The leaders of CPI, CPI(M), Forward Bloc, RJD and Samajwadi Party along
with their supporters held a rally on Mahatma Gandhi Road before marching towards the state Secretariat.
On May 15, 2010, Orissa police opened fire on peaceful protesters sitting on dharna for their lands and livelihoods.
Other democratic forces in condemning this atrocious brutality, in which at least 50 people have been injured, markets have been burned and many more are likely to be wounded or killed. |
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Some
facts releted to POSCO
The POSCO project violates the Forest Rights Act of 2006. Under that law, no forest land can be given to anyone until a) all the rights of the people in the area are recognised and b) their consent is given to the project. This is the requirement of the law, acknowledged further by an Environment Ministry order of August 3, 2009.
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