Thousands of Orissa villagers rally against Posco nod
February 1st, 2011 - 8:02 pm ICT by IANSBhubaneswar, Feb 1 (IANS) Over 3,000 villagers Tuesday held large rallies in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district to protest against the environment ministry conditional nod to South Korean steel major Posco’s $12 billion steel project in the region.
Men and women from several villages took out separate processions and assembled at Patana village, the central place of the proposed Posco site, about 120 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.
The protester carried posters and banners, and shouted slogans like “Posco go back”, “we will die but not vacate our land”, a police officer told IANS adding that the rallies and meeting were peaceful.
The Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), which has been spearheading the movement against the project and organized the latest protest, said more such agitations will be launched in the coming days.
“We will take the protest to New Delhi. All those who have been against displacement will join us. We will jointly launch a nationwide agitation,” PPSS spokesperson Prasant Paikray told IANS.
Posco’s is an integrated steel, mining and port project and separate clearances had to be given to all three. It also comprises a captive power plant to provide electricity to the steel plant.
The environment ministry gave conditional clearance to the project Monday, the biggest foreign direct investment in the country.
It has imposed 28 additional conditions as part of the environmental clearance for the steel-cum-captive power plant and 32 conditions are imposed while according environmental clearance to the captive minor port in the state.
Thousands of villagers have been opposing the project, saying it will displace them from their homelands and ruin their betel leaf farms.
- Anti-displacement group protests nod to POSCO - Jan 31, 2011
- Political parties to support anti-POSCO movement - Mar 01, 2011
- barricades are up again at Posco site - Feb 03, 2011
- Posco's $12 bn Orissa project gets conditional nod (Second Lead) - Jan 31, 2011
- POSCO project: Supporters, protesters hold rival meets - Mar 13, 2011
- Conditional nod to Posco project in Orissa (Lead) - Jan 31, 2011
- Arrest of anti-Posco leader triggers tension - Nov 27, 2011
- Anti-POSCO protesters burn effigy of officials - Apr 15, 2011
- Posco welcomes conditional nod for Orissa project - Jan 31, 2011
- Group rejects Orissa's claim about POSCO site - Apr 14, 2011
- Jairam asks Orissa to resubmit POSCO report (Lead) - Apr 14, 2011
- Conditional clearance to Posco hardly a relief: environmentalists - Jan 31, 2011
- Anti-POSCO leader held - Nov 26, 2011
- Patnaik welcomes clearance for Posco project - Jan 31, 2011
- Posco, industry welcome conditional nod to Orissa project - Jan 31, 2011
Tags: betel leaf, captive power plant, conditional nod, displacement, environmental clearance, foreign direct investment, homelands, integrated steel, nationwide agitation, orissa, police officer, posco, ppss, protester, rallies, slogans, south korean, spokesperson, steel plant, steel project