No Posco in Gadag without farmers' nod

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said on Friday the Rs 30,000-crore (Rs 300 billion) steel project by Korean major Posco will not come up in Gadag district in the state without farmers' consent.

"The Posco project will not be set up against the farmers' wishes," he said.

He directed Gadag Deputy Commissioner Shankar Narayan to submit a letter in this regard to Tontadarya Mutt seer Siddalinga Swamiji, who is spearheading an agitation in the district against the proposed project.

"I do not wish to go against the wishes of the farmers and the swamiji as I am a pro-farmers man.

"As such there will be no Posco steel plant in Gadag district and I am not acquiring fertile farmlands for the purpose," Yeddyurappa, who arrived in Hubli to attend the two-day

Bharatiya Janata Party state executive meet, told reporters.

He iterated that only if the seers and farmers arrived at a 'consensus' on setting up of the project, he would consider its (project's) implementation in the district.

Following protests by farmers and opposition members, Yeddyurappa said on Thursday that his government would announce in two days its decision on the location of the project.

He had earlier said there was no re-rethinking on the part of the government to relocate the Posco project from Gadag to another district.