Around 20 people were arrested on Thursday for allegedly trying to obstruct the process of land acquisition for the Rs 52,000 crore Posco steel plant near Paradip. Activists of United Action Committee (UAC), who earlier backed the mega project, were taken into custody as they blocked the entry route to Gada Kujanga opposing land acquisition work, resumed after nine months on Wednesday, police said. "About 20 people were arrested after effort to persuade...

-Express News Service   Even as the State government readies for land acquisition for the Posco steel project, the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), which is spearheading a movement against the project, has announced that it would oppose the process. To add to the woes, the United Action Committee (UAC), a pro-Posco outfit, has threatened not to cooperate with the Jagatsinghpur district administration for the land acquisition.   PPSS president Abhay Sahu told...

-The Business Standard   The Orissa government may defer its plan to resume land acquisition for South Korean steel company Posco’s $12-billion project near Paradip on May 18, by a week due to non-cooperation of United Action Committee (UAC) members, unavailability of temporary shed for police forces and severe heat wave. Priyabrata Patnaik, managing director of state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation and nodal officer for the project, had earlier said the land...

Even as Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar on Thursday demanded repeal of the Land Acquisition Act, 1984, the All-India Kisan Sabha urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to call a special session of Parliament to discuss the issue. Ms. Patkar, who was arrested at Parsaul village on Thursday and later released, said that instead of an amended Act, there should be a comprehensive Development Planning Act under which development should only...

A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took centre-stage putting his party's weight behind protestors over land acquisition in western Uttar Pradesh, the government on Thursday said it would introduce a new land acquisition bill having provisions for better compensation and rehabilitation measures in the next session of Parliament. "We must have a new land acquisition law. Government has drafted a new act that has provisions for better compensation, rehabilitation and...