Thaindian News

Bhubaneswar, June 6 (IANS) Hundreds of people, among them activists and leaders of five political parties, held a demonstration here Monday and courted arrests to protest forcible acquisition of land for a steel project by South Korean major Posco, a protest leader said.

The activists came in a procession here carrying posters and banners and shouted slogans against the Biju Janata Dal government. They also held a meeting near the state assembly premises.

“Around 1,000 people participated in the demonstration,” Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Dusmanta Das told IANS.

At least 500 people courted arrests after they tried to intrude into the nearby prohibited area, he said. Police said the number of people who courted arrest would be about 200.

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.

“We were opposing forcible acquisition of land for Posco project. We also demanded the shifting of the project site to another area,” Das said.

Posco had signed an agreement 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, of which 2,900 acres are forest land.

The activists were angry as the government acquired some land earlier this month despite opposition from the landholders.

Areas under Dhinkia panchayat, considered a stronghold of anti-Posco activists, were tense after the local authorities began preparations to start land acquisition.

Nearly 500 policemen staged a flag march at the site ahead of the land acquisition process which is likely to start in the troubled area in a day or two.

The flag march was conducted barely 400 metres away from a village where hundreds of villagers and anti-Posco activists have been camping since the past five days to prevent entry of officials.