Survey resumes at Posco steel plant site

The survey work at the proposed Posco steel plant site near Paradip resumed on Thursday, four days after anti-Posco agitators agreed to cooperate with the Orissa government on it.

Altogether eight teams comprising six members each entered Gobindpur gram panchayat area in Jagatsinghpur district and conducted socio-economic and forest land survey without police protection, a senior official said.

"The survey work for the Rs 52,000 crore (Rs 520 billion) project is going on smoothly with the cooperation of local people", he said.

Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, which has been protesting against the project for the last five years, lifted the make-shift gates put up at Dhinkia-Gobindpur area and allowed the team to conduct the survey.

However, eight platoons of armed police were kept as standby at Balitutha and Nuagaon junction to meet any eventuality during the survey which had been suspended last week due to protest from villagers, they said.

In a bid to break the impasse over the proposed mega steel project, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had recently convened a meeting of the opponents of the plant and discussed different aspects.

PPSS leader Sisir Mohapatra said survey work would continue in the area peacefully but that did not mean Posco plant would be established in the area.

"Survey and agitation by PPSS will go side by side. We will observe June 22 as a Black Day to mark completion of five years of the agreement", he said.

Supporters of the project, meanwhile, demanded that 62 families belonging to Patna village under Gobindpur gram panchayat, who were staying in the rehabilitation colony set up by Posco, be brought back to their village to remain present during the survey work.

President of Joint Coordination Committee Anadi Rout and secretary Nirbhay Samantaray said that the families should remain present in their villages.

However, opposing the move, PPSS chief Abhay Sahu said that in the event of their return, the survey work would not be allowed in the area.

"The issue of return of the families to Patna village was not discussed in the meeting with chief minister", he claimed.