Protesters begin week-long meetings against Posco land acquisition

BHUBANESWAR: Anti-Posco activists on Monday began week-long village meetings in Posco India's proposed steel plant site in Paradip to foil any attempt by the government to acquire land for the country's biggest FDI project.

Led by Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti ( PPSS), the activists chalked out a strategy to spoil Posco's latest move to launch 8-mt plant on 2700 acre of land.

"Posco's latest attempt seeking 2700 acres of land for 8-mt steel plant project is just hogwash. We very well know its design to grab fertile land and ruin the prosperous families living here. The administration has not been able to acquire even a single acre of land all these years and will never be able to do so," said PPSS spokesperson, Prashant Paikray.

Only recently, PM Manmohan Singh had assured the South Korean government that construction of the project would resume from July and had directed the state government to complete the initial formalities, including land acquisition for the project, at the earliest.