As an indefinite dharna by five political parties in the city opposing forceful land acquisition for the Posco steel project entered its second day on Friday, the Jagatsinghpur district administration held talks with some of the office-bearers of an outfit supporting the project in order to resume ground levelling and boundary wall construction work on the land acquired for the project earlier.
The leaders of the United Action Committee (UAC) said after the meeting with the administration officials that they would allow construction work only after the authorities gave them a written assurance that their demands, including jobs and enhanced compensation to land losers, would be fulfilled.
No construction work was carried out on the acquired land for the sixth day on Friday as a majority of people in the two gram panchayats of Nuagaon and Gadakujang started opposing the project and were not cooperating with the UAC office-bearers.
Human barricade
On the other hand, hundreds of villagers of Dhinkia and Gobindpur villages continued with their human barricade outside Gobindpur village demanding shifting of the project from their locality.
The villagers, coming under the banner of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, have been staging the dharna to block entry of government officials and police to demolish betel vineyards and acquire land for the project.
No talks with Samiti
The State government or district administration officials have not initiated the process for holding talks with the Sangram Samiti so far. Many political parities and social activists, who visited Gobindpur to express their solidarity with the agitating villagers, demanded that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik hold talks with the Sangram Samiti to resolve the crisis.
Meanwhile, the Orissa High Court issued notices to the State government and Sangram Samiti president Abhay Sahu after hearing two petitions filed by a group of people who had been living in a transit camp since long after they came out of their homes in Dhinkia village following differences with the villagers opposing the project. The petitioners have urged the court to declare the Sangram Samiti as an unlawful organisation.
Published - July 01, 2011 03:37 pm IST
