Posco snippets

Unmindful of the continuing protests against the Posco project, the state government is moving ahead to acquire as much land as possible within a month for the South Korean steel major to begin construction work. Posco requires a total of 2,700 acres of land to begin work.
At least 14 platoons of armed police forces have been deployed in the Dhinkia area to crush the agitation by villagers unwilling to gice up their land. The government’s action is being seen in many quarters as illegal as the project does not have an environment clearance (EC).
Sources said Posco has informed the government that since the project has been considerably delayed, it would start work on the 8 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) capacity plant in the first phase itself. Earlier, Posco had announced that the 12 MTPA plant would be built in three phases. “The company said it will begin construction of three roads to the site at a cost of over Rs 52 crore. Other ancillary works would continue simultaneously,” said an official of Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation.
Posco’s MoU with the state government, which expired after five years, has not been renewed. “We had submitted our new draft MoU more than a year ago. There were a number of disputes on various issues. All these problems have been addressed by usIt is for the state government to take the final call,” said a Posco official.
The protests against the project continued for the third consecutive day in Dhinkia on Tuesday with school children participating in demonstrations.
In the state capital, the Congress organised a dharna outside the Raj Bhavan. Party leaders met the governor and submitted a memorandum condemning the ongoing police ‘brutalities’ in the Posco area.