Posco imbroglio hits normal life of people

Caught in the complex web surrounding the proposed mega steel plant by Posco near Paradip, innocent people including women and children are finding it hard to live a normal life at Dhinkia, centre of anti-posco agitation, in Jagatsinghpur district.

Elders are not able to move out to sell or supply their products in the nearby markets for fear of being caught by police while children including girls are keeping indoors for the same reason, locals said.

"We don't know whom police will implicate on what charge. They are keeping a strict vigil on our activities", said Manorama Khatua, an anti-Posco woman activist.

Dhinkia is one of the three gram panchayats in Jagatsinghpur district where Posco has proposed to set up its 12 million tonne steel plant at an expenditure of Rs 52,000 crore. The other two grampanchayats are Nuagaon and Gadakujanga.

Though the Jagatsinghpur district administration had demolished betel vines with hardly any opposition in Nuagaon and Gadakujanga areas, it was facing stiff resistance in Dhinkia.

The district administration had deployed 23 platoons of police force in the area on Friday to demolish the betel vines ahead of land acquision. But stubborn villagers resisted the move by forming a three-tier human barricade even as the administration declared the assembly of people as unlawful.

However, keeping in view the ensuing three-day "Rajo" festival (mostly observed by women) beginning from Tuesday, the administration has suspended land acquisition process in the area for five days.