Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/singur-whiff-in-posco-politics-by-subrat-das-and-subhashish-mohanty-8500.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Singur whiff in Posco politics by Subrat Das and Subhashish Mohanty | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Singur whiff in Posco politics by Subrat Das and Subhashish Mohanty

The Posco project has turned into a political hot potato with the two main Opposition parties trying to extract as much out of it as possible, hoping the Rs 51000 crore project turns into another Singur.

At a time when Naveen Patnaik government finds itself embroiled in a number of unsavoury controversies, including horse trading during the Rajya Sabha elections, the Congress and the BJP are looking to deliver the coup de grace with the Posco word.

Ready to kick the ruling BJD when it is down, the two major parties are whipping up emotions on the country’s biggest foreign direct investment (FDI) by lending full support in the public to the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS)-led agitation against the project.

A five-member Congress delegation today visited Gobindpur and Dhinkia villages, the epicentre of the anti-Posco agitation, to take stock of the situation and also express solidarity with the protesting villagers, including women and children, who have been blocking the entry of land acquisition officials for the last one week by forming a human barricade.

The delegation members, who interacted with the villagers, said: “The state government has unleashed a reign of terror in the region. The Congress party stands with the people in their hour of crisis.”

The BJP is sending its delegation to the trouble spot tomorrow.

The stand of the Congress on Posco seems just as intriguing as that of the BJP. The Congress, which is the main Opposition party, has never been so vocal in opposing the project, which was cleared recently by the Union environment ministry. The project also enjoys the support of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has more than once in the past sought to accelerate the pace of its implementation in his own way.

The apparent paradox in the stand of party between the central and state leaderships was sought to be explained by former Union minister and in-charge of Orissa Congress affairs, Jagdish Tytler. “We are not opposed to the project. Our only objection is to the forcible eviction of people who are not willing to give up their land. Even the Union environment minister has expressed himself against it,” said Tytler, adding there was land available near the present site where the project could possibly be located.

State Congress president Niranjan Patnaik spoke more or less on similar lines, though he sought to highlight several other aspects of the project, including the fact that the government was trying to acquire prime agricultural land.

“This is a prime agricultural land which yields cash crops. The government of India never asked the state government to give this land to the company. Why cannot the state government relocate the project?” asked Patnaik, adding that the project had suffered because of the stubborn insistence of some officials that only this land should be acquired for the plant.

He also raised the issue of forcible land acquisition. “That the Prime Minister’s Office is monitoring the project does not imply that it has agreed to forcible acquisition of land,” said the state Congress chief, adding that the Union environment ministry’s nod to the project was based on the consideration of many factors. But Congress’s prime concern was that fertile agricultural land should not be handed over to the company, he said.

Patnaik asserted that while the Congress was not opposed to the investment of Rs 51,000 crore, it wondered why the project cannot be relocated to a barren strip of land nearby which could be developed by spending another another Rs 2,000 crore. “The state government should find out a barren strip where the project can be put up,” he said.

He also said that when he was the state’s industry minister in 1995, the government had refused to give fertile land for an oil refinery and Oswal fertilisers’ project. “We allocated them alternative land,” he added.

He also made it clear that Posco should not be allowed to develop a captive port for itself. “When the Paradip port is so nearby, there is no need to allow the company to have its own port,” he said.

Asserting that his party has been opposing the project both in and outside the state Assembly and Parliament, state BJP president Jual Oram said the government cannot be allowed to acquire land forcibly at the site as it would mean denial of the villagers’ basic rights to self determination.

“Our delegation will visit the area tomorrow and interact with the people to take stock of the ground situation,” said Oram.

Oram said that he and his colleagues had been raising the issue of granting unfair privileges, including the special economic zone (SEZ) status accorded to the company, all along.

“Even though we were partners in power when the Naveen Patnaik Government formalised the memorandum of understanding with Posco, I and the then industry minister, Biswabhushan Harichandan had met Atal Behari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani and had raised these issues. We wanted these clauses to be removed from the MOU. It was a difficult balance to strike, but we did our best,” he said.

Social activist Swami Agnivesh, who spent last night with the agitating people in Dhinkia and Gobindpur, today said that government had no right to evict people forcibly and that chief minister should visit the area and talk to them. “If I can come here from Delhi, why can’t he come from Bhubaneswar?” asked Agnivesh.

State industries minister Raghunath Mohanty said the land was being acquired with the consent of the people. “We believe in seeking people’s consent,” he added.