Anti-Posco activists elected as Sarapanch, trouble for steel plant

BHUBANESWAR: The victory of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), the anti-displacement forum which has been spearheading the movement against the Rs 52,000-crore Posco steel project, - in the just concluded Dhinkia gram panchayat polls could spell further trouble for the country���s largest foreign direct investment proposal by South Korean steel major.

Dhinkia is one of the three panchayats near Paradip port which have been selected as the site of the proposed 12-million-tonne steel project to be set up by the Pohang Steel Company (Posco).

In the just concluded panchayat elections, the PPSS candidates Sisir Mohapatra and his colleague Prakash Jena got elected as sarpanch and panchayat samiti member (nominee), respectively. Supported by the Communist Party of India (CPI), the elected PPSS members defeated the ruling BJD-backed candidates.

In fact, panchayat samiti member Prakash Jena fought the elections from behind the bars. Mr Jena is currently lodged in Kujang jail.

The elected representatives, sources close to them said, would wait till the Assembly and Lok Sabha results were out on May 16 to decide their next course of action.

���At present, we are not in a hurry to open our cards. The CPI is now in alliance with the ruling BJD. We have been assured that if Naveen Patnaik government comes to power for the third term, all cases lodged against the PPSS will be dropped and all its members currently languishing in prison released,��� a senior PPSS office-bearer told this paper requesting anonymity.

At least 27 PPSS activists are currently in jail. Cases of attempt to murder, abduction of government officials and unlawful possession of arms have been registered against them. Besides, 178 anti-Posco activists are facing arrest warrants.

Posco had signed memorandum of understanding with the Orissa government on June 22, 2005. The South Korean Company had announced to finish the first phase of its proposed 12-million-tonne steel plant by 2011. The project, however, has now been delayed by over two years as the ground reality in the state does not back up the Korean steel major's expectations.

The equation between the PPSS and state government changed as just before the ongoing elections process started the CPI, ending its years of hostility with the Naveen Patnaik government, forged a pre-poll understanding with the ruling BJD.