Naveen Patnaik to talk with anti-POSCO leaders
June 12th, 2010 - 12:05 am ICT by IANSBhubaneswar, June 11 (IANS) Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday said he would hold dialogue with leaders opposed to a steel project by South Korean steel major POSCO in the state.
The meeting will take place Sunday at 5 p.m., Patnaik said after meeting a delegation of six political parties.
The delegation comprised members of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist, Forward Bloc, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Samajwadi Party and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
“They (political parties) requested me to meet the members of the POSCO Pratirodha Sangram Samiti (PPSS). I have agreed to meet them,” Patnaik told reporters.
The PPSS is the organisation spearheading the agitation against POSCO project.
POSCO, one of the world’s biggest steel makers, signed a deal with the Orissa government in June 2005 to set up the project by 2016 near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district, some 100 km from here.
The steel maker requires about 4,004 acres for the project, of which 2,900 acres are forest land. The project has been delayed for over three years due to various reasons, including protests by locals.
Thousands of villagers have been protesting, saying the proposed plant will displace them from their homeland and ruin their betel-leaf farms.
POSCO and the government maintain the project will bring prosperity and employment to an impoverished region.
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- Nine injured as anti-Posco protesters, cops clash (Second Lead) - May 15, 2010
- Land acquisition for Posco to resume despite protest - May 08, 2011
- Orissa begins land acquisition for POSCO amid opposition (Lead) - Jul 28, 2010
- Anti-Posco activists intensify stir - Jan 27, 2010
- Eight injured as anti-Posco protesters clash with cops (Lead) - May 15, 2010
- Orissa begins land acquisition for POSCO amids opposition - Jul 27, 2010
- Villagers protest Orissa plan to renew POSCO pact (Lead) - Jun 22, 2010
- Survey work for POSCO starts amid protest - May 25, 2010
- Bardhan demands shifting POSCO steel plant site - May 21, 2010
- Orissa assures it will expedite Posco project (Lead) - Jan 26, 2010
- Patnaik heads for Delhi to discuss Posco project - Jan 26, 2010
- Orissa to resume work at Posco site - Jul 01, 2011
- POSCO project: Supporters, protesters hold rival meets - Mar 13, 2011
- Anti-Posco group slams Ramesh - Jun 12, 2011
Tags: agitation, betel leaf, chief minister, communist party of india, CPI, delegation, forest land, forward bloc, jharkhand mukti morcha, meeting will take place, mukti, orissa government, paradip, political parties, posco, Samajwadi Party, south korean, steel maker, steel makers, steel project