[Reader-list] UPDATE AND REQUEST FROM PPSS:22nd Jan

[Asit Das]

Update from POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti ( PPSS) as on 22nd January 2013.

Dear Friends,

As you know the police have made its presence heavy in our area and
regularly conducting regular flag to intimidate us.

Despite provocation, for the past nine days, our villagers are continuing
the peaceful protest against theforceful acquisition of our land for
Proposed steel plant by POSCO at Balitikra along Govindapur- Nuagaon border
and the protest will continue for the indefinite period till the Government
and POSCO management withdraw themselves from our area. The villagers
including children and women are keeping a round-the-clock vigil at the
entry points to the village to stop the Government and Posco officials to
come to the site villages.

As you know the Odisha government is making an unlawful and illigal move to
acquire our land without taking the consent of our villager into
consideration and avoiding the unanimous resolution passed in recently held
Gram Sabha against diversion of forest land for Posco project. Recenlty our
chairperson of PPSS, Mr. Abhya Sahoo said that the Jagatsinghpur District
Collector was misleading the people of the State that 80 per cent of the
villagers of Govindapur wanted the establishment of the Posco plant. Sahoo
dared the district Collector to prove it. “I would withdraw the anti Posco
agitation, if the District Collector can prove that 80 per cent of the
villagers support Posco,” he said.

Further the mines issue is sub-judice, environmental clearance is under
suspension and there is no Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) . The state
government has been unleashing savage repression and violence on our
democratic movement. This is a clear illegal attempt of POSCO to acquire
land for the project by bribing the State Government, the district
administration and the local politicians.

In a resolution adopted at its national executive meeting held at
Bhubaneswar, state capital of Odisha, the Communist Party of India ( CPI)
asked the state government to withdraw the project from the area and
resolved to oppose any industrialisation through repression and at the cost
of vibrant agricultural economy. CPI national council secretary and MP
Gurdas Dasgupta told ."We are opposed to farmers' land to be invaded by
multi-national companies,"

In this juncture, we strongly demand the state government to refrain from
any anti-people and violent actions, withdraw the Posco project from our
area and allow us to decide our fate.

Attaching herewith the an article written by Anant Mariganti, Biju Mathew
and Sirisa Naidu published in Economic Political weekly (EPW) that exposes
the faulty NCARE report to justify POSCO’s cost-benifit analysis.

Requesting you to sign the e-petition and circulate

https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/chief-minister-of-odisha-stop-d
iversion-

of-forest-land-use-of-police-force-against-residents?

utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=url_share&utm_campaign=
url_share_before_sign

Kindly circulate this mail widely.

In Solidarity,

Prashant Paikary

Spokesperson,

POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti

Mobile no - 09437571547
 *
https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/chief-minister-of-odisha-stop-diversion
*
www.change.org
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