Three POSCO officials, including a woman who had gone to Gobindapur village to hold direct talks with villagers on land acquisition, were taken hostage by agitators opposing setting up of a steel plant by the South Korean company.
POSCO sources said some activists of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, the body set up by the agitating villagers, took the three hostage this afternoon, but later released the woman official identified as Rosalyn Parida.
The other two officials were identified as Debasish Swain, senior executive and Pranabananda Das, public relations officer of POSCO-India Ltd. Deputy Inspector General of Police (Central Range), S K Upadhyay said the officials were held up by villagers.
PPSS president Abhay Sahu told PTI that the officials would not be released till the company gave a written undertaking that the project would not be set up at the present site.
Inhabitants of three panchayats - Dhinkia, Gadakujanga and Nuagan - had been strongly opposing the location of the 12 mtpa project at the chosen site as it would require displacement of about 22,000 people.
As the three officials visited Gobindapur village to negotiate with the people, they were detained. Their car was also seized by the villagers.
It was decided at a meeting held at the PMO recently that POSCO would directly make contact with the people of the project site area for acquisition of their land.
Accordingly, POSCO officials had been venturing near the villages and had approached some people earlier as well.
The PPSS, which has been agitating against establishment of the Rs 52,000 crore (Rs 520 billion) steel project, described as the biggest ever FDI in India, had erected bamboo gates at eight different points in the three panchayats while refusing entry to government officials, POSCO personnel and police.
After the decision that POSCO should directly approach the people for land acquisition, the PPSS had held a rally in the area on April 28 warning POSCO officials to face the consequence if they ever attempted to 'tresspass into the area'.
Hundreds of people including women and children had assembled near the eight gates at different entry points to the sea-side area on that day to voice their protest.
The villagers were agitated over the 'secret visit' of a group of five POSCO officials to the area on April 26. No government official has entered the area for the last ten months, PPSS activists claimed.
On Wednesday, Posco had hinted at looking at other options after facing resistance from people who are likely to get displaced by its mega steel project near Paradip.
