---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anivar Aravind <anivar@movingrepublic.org>
Date: Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 11:18 AM
Subject: [OrissaConcerns] ACTION ALERT: Urgent Action Needed to Support the Anti-POSCO struggle in Orissa. Govt Planning forced entry/Violence anticipated.
To: connect@lists.orissaconcerns.net
PLS FORWARD widely and urge every friend to call.
---------------------
Dear friends:
We need your help urgently. As many of you are aware, the Korean Steel
giant, POSCO (Pohang Steel) is touted to be moving forward with its
plans building a steel mill in Jagatsingpura in north-east Orissa. The
mill, also involves mining at Keonjhar and a new port just north of
Paradip. In all, over 30 villages are targets for forced displacement
and have been in continuous protest in one form or the other for the
last two years or more under the leadership of the POSCO Pratirodh
Sangram Samiti. Currently the govt of Orissa has issued a Feb 10th
deadline on filing for compensation and there has been a rapid build
of police forces over the last 48 hours. A PPSS dharana is in its
second week now and the threat of an attack on the people and forced
entry into the lands and occupation by govt forces looms large. Please
call the Chief Minister Orissa - Naveen Panaik and the Chief Sect
Environments and Forest Govt of Orissa, Mr U N Behara ASAP. Ask them
to immediately stop all plans of forced occupation of land and
instead seek the immediate implementation of the Forest Rights Act.
Remind them that the project will effect both adivasis and non
adivasis, a delicate eco system with a rumenurative betel leaf
cultivation system and a unified movement against POSCO.
We would like to hear the responses and so write back to us with a
brief note on the response. Attached below is a Press Release from
PPSS and a brief article that appeared in the mainstream press three
days ago. ONCE AGAIN, Please make ur calls ASAP. Best time to cal
would be 10 30 Pm -- 7 AM.
CALL:
Naveen Patnaik
Cm, Orissa
Tel. No.(O) 011 91 674 2531100,011 91 674 2535100,
011 91 674 2531500, Epbax 2163
Tel. No.(R) 011 91 674 2590299, 011 91 674 2591099,
011 91 674 2590844, 011 91 674 2591100,
CALL:
U N Behara
Principal Sect Environment and Forests
Phone: 011 91 674 2595503 / 011 91 674 2536822
------------------
PRESS RELEASE:
URGENT! Fear of attack on Anti-POSCO movement
Balitutha, Orissa: The threat of state and company sponsored violence
looms large over hundreds of farmers sitting on an indefinite dharna
at Balitutha in Jagatsinghpur district against the Orissa government's
pet POSCO steel project.
Since 26 January this year the farmers have been carrying out their
peaceful protest against fresh attempts by the Naveen Patnaik regime
to acquire their land on behalf of the South Korean steel corporation.
"We are expecting police action any time soon including an attack on
our leader Abhay Sahoo by goons hired by the company," said a
spokesperson of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samithi (PPSS), which has
spearheaded the agitation against the project for the past five years.
Over 30,000 farmers are expected to lose their lands and livelihood if
the US$12 billion project, billed as India's largest Foreign Direct
Investment, is implemented. POSCO signed an MoU with the Orissa
government in mid-2005, for the setting up of an integrated steel and
power plant, a private port and mining of over 600 million tonnes of
Orissa's high grade iron ore.
For the steel and power plants alone the project needs around 4004
acres, of which 3566 acres is government owned forest and revenue land
but 438 acres belongs to local farmers who are refusing to part with
it. The PPSS apprehends that over 25 platoons of police are being
brought in to surround the farmers sitting on dharna at Balitutha,
which is at the entrance to the land that belongs to them.
As per a letter issued by the Collector of Jagatsinghpur District on
January 19 this year Palli Sabhas in the project area have been asked
to obtain approval of local bodies about the 'diversion of their lands
under forest category to POSCO' by February 10th. On February 3
however, at a meeting of Palli Sabha of Nuagaon village all the 700
participants unanimously disapproved of the move. In a resolution
passed at the Palli Sabha they said that such lands were being used
by people for cultivation and housing since last 300 years and in no
case they can be handed over to POSCO. Other Palli Sabhas in the area
are expected to pass similar resolutions.
PPSS activists say, faced with the firm opposition to the POSCO
project and land acquisition the Orissa adminstration is getting
desperate and plans to remove the farmers by force. On February 1 the
state government issued a notice in various newspapers that if the
people fail to file their claims for compensation within fifteen
days, they will get nothing at all.
The PPSS dharna has found support around the country with leaders of
trade unions and people's movements visiting the protestors sitting on
dharna. Those participating in the dharna include leaders of leaders
of the All India Trade Union Congress from different states and the
Orissa Bidi Workers and Domestic Workers Associations.
For further information contact:
Prashant Paikray, spokesperson, PPSS at Ph: (0) 9437571547.
----------------
Ground Zero
http://orissaconcerns.net/2010/02/ground-zero/
Dilip Bisoi
Financial Express
Posted online: Feb 07, 2010 at 1959 hrs
From Bhubaneswar, it takes us five hours to reach Patna village, at
the heart of Posco-India's planned 12-million tonne steel plant. We
find children playing with pebbles, but they aren't at an innocuous
game—they arrange tiny stones across the road when they see an
approaching vehicle, imitating elders who routinely put up road
blockades or gates to prevent entry of unknown vehicles. Patna falls
within the core area of the proposed 4,004 acre plant site, and
villagers, who are against the project, keep round-the-clock vigil on
the movement of outsiders.
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik may have assured South Korean
President Lee Myung-Bak that the land acquisition process for the
$12-billion plant in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district will be speeded
up, but at Ground Zero, things don't look so easy. Posco-India still
doesn't have an inch of land, though the final forest clearance came
through in December, on the eve of Lee's visit to India as chief guest
for Republic Day. Of the 4,004 acres identified for the project,
2,958.79 acres is forestland.
He was keen to visit the Posco site, but was told the ground situation
wasn't conducive. There's stiff resistance to the project from locals,
but Posco-India and the Orissa government is hoping to win over the
opposition with the promise of a better rehabilitation and
resettlement policy.
"The resettlement and rehabilitation package of Posco-India for the
plant at Jagatsinghpur is in line with the Orissa government's R&R
Rules 2006, which is regarded as one of the best R&R policies in the
country," says Posco-India General Manager (external relations)
Simanta Mohanty. "We are confident that everybody in our project area
will be at an advantage with our package. Our package is specially
oriented towards landless labour and we have made special provisions
for employment of those needing jobs. We are compensating those who
have planted betel vines on government land and we are sure they will
see that we are giving them a fair deal," he adds. Over the past three
months, the Patnaik government, too, has given a push to the land
acquisition process, but villagers will need a lot of convincing
before they give up their land.
In neighbouring Govindpur, children play cricket, imagining the ball
to be Posco-India. Every time a batsman hits the ball hard, a cheer
goes up. The villagers of Govindpur are quite militant in their
opposition to the project, considered to be the country's largest FDI.
Four years of agitation have changed the lives of villagers living in
Posco's proposed site. For villagers, guarding the gates has become a
daily chore. All their discussions revolve around the Posco project.
Womenfolk do their household work, but with an eye on the main street
for Posco executives or government officials. Posco officials are
often detained for a few hours by villagers.
The two villages of Govindpur and Dhinkia are at the heart of the site
and this is where the dictates of the Posco Pratirodha Sangaram Samiti
(PPSS), the organisation that is spearheading the anti-project
movement, runs. PPSS has virtually converted the 4,004 acres into a
fort, with 17 gates plugging all the roads to the core area. No gates
open without the permission of PPSS. The PPSS chief, Abhaya Sahoo,
guards the main gate at Balitutha, the entry point to the Posco site.
The PPSS network is quite strong. When government officials or Posco
company executives start from Bhubaneswar for Jagatsinghpur, Sahoo
gets the information, and villagers are alerted immediately.
With the forest clearance coming through, and Lee's visit putting the
project onto the fast track, the Jagatsinghpur Collector has put out
ads asking betel vine owners to claim compensation and give up the
land. Interestingly, the 4,004 acres is part of a vast stretch of land
that was added to the mainland when the sea receded, so the landscape
is dotted with huge sand mounds. The government says the reclaimed
land is government land but people have lived here for generations.
Over the years, the forests too have disappeared—first the mangroves
and then the casuarina plantations, destroyed by a super cyclone. Now,
villagers grow betel vines and cashew on the high lands and have
converted the low laying areas to paddy fields. "The paddy field gives
us rice for the whole year and the betel vines the cash to buy other
items," says Ramesh Mohanty. "We will not allow the Posco project to
come up on this site," says PPSS chief Abhaya Sahoo. "No
rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) policy is acceptable to us," he
points out.
When you argue that Posco-India has promised to give a better package
than the R&R package announced by the state government, Dhinkia
sarpanch Sisira Mohapatra, who is also the general secretary of PPSS,
shows you the R&R package of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for the
oustees of Paradip Refinery project. A vacant plot of seven acres,
earmarked with concrete pillars outside village Dhinka, is the
so-called rehabilitation colony. The abandoned, dilapidated facility
centre (hospitals, schools and temples) isn't assuring villagers.
"We have seen the R&R package of a public sector company. How do we
trust a foreign private company?" Mohapatra shoots back. The stories
of promises not kept and the success of people's movements like the
anti-missile test range agitation of Baliapal have kept the resistance
against Posco alive. But the Orissa government too has made a heap of
promises to Posco-India which it will find very difficult to walk away
from.
______________________________ _________________
connect mailing list
connect@lists.orissaconcerns.net
http://lists.orissaconcerns.net/listinfo.cgi/connect-orissaconcerns.net
http://orissaconcerns.net
From: Anivar Aravind <anivar@movingrepublic.org>
Date: Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 11:18 AM
Subject: [OrissaConcerns] ACTION ALERT: Urgent Action Needed to Support the Anti-POSCO struggle in Orissa. Govt Planning forced entry/Violence anticipated.
To: connect@lists.orissaconcerns.net
PLS FORWARD widely and urge every friend to call.
---------------------
Dear friends:
We need your help urgently. As many of you are aware, the Korean Steel
giant, POSCO (Pohang Steel) is touted to be moving forward with its
plans building a steel mill in Jagatsingpura in north-east Orissa. The
mill, also involves mining at Keonjhar and a new port just north of
Paradip. In all, over 30 villages are targets for forced displacement
and have been in continuous protest in one form or the other for the
last two years or more under the leadership of the POSCO Pratirodh
Sangram Samiti. Currently the govt of Orissa has issued a Feb 10th
deadline on filing for compensation and there has been a rapid build
of police forces over the last 48 hours. A PPSS dharana is in its
second week now and the threat of an attack on the people and forced
entry into the lands and occupation by govt forces looms large. Please
call the Chief Minister Orissa - Naveen Panaik and the Chief Sect
Environments and Forest Govt of Orissa, Mr U N Behara ASAP. Ask them
to immediately stop all plans of forced occupation of land and
instead seek the immediate implementation of the Forest Rights Act.
Remind them that the project will effect both adivasis and non
adivasis, a delicate eco system with a rumenurative betel leaf
cultivation system and a unified movement against POSCO.
We would like to hear the responses and so write back to us with a
brief note on the response. Attached below is a Press Release from
PPSS and a brief article that appeared in the mainstream press three
days ago. ONCE AGAIN, Please make ur calls ASAP. Best time to cal
would be 10 30 Pm -- 7 AM.
CALL:
Naveen Patnaik
Cm, Orissa
Tel. No.(O) 011 91 674 2531100,011 91 674 2535100,
011 91 674 2531500, Epbax 2163
Tel. No.(R) 011 91 674 2590299, 011 91 674 2591099,
011 91 674 2590844, 011 91 674 2591100,
CALL:
U N Behara
Principal Sect Environment and Forests
Phone: 011 91 674 2595503 / 011 91 674 2536822
------------------
PRESS RELEASE:
URGENT! Fear of attack on Anti-POSCO movement
Balitutha, Orissa: The threat of state and company sponsored violence
looms large over hundreds of farmers sitting on an indefinite dharna
at Balitutha in Jagatsinghpur district against the Orissa government's
pet POSCO steel project.
Since 26 January this year the farmers have been carrying out their
peaceful protest against fresh attempts by the Naveen Patnaik regime
to acquire their land on behalf of the South Korean steel corporation.
"We are expecting police action any time soon including an attack on
our leader Abhay Sahoo by goons hired by the company," said a
spokesperson of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samithi (PPSS), which has
spearheaded the agitation against the project for the past five years.
Over 30,000 farmers are expected to lose their lands and livelihood if
the US$12 billion project, billed as India's largest Foreign Direct
Investment, is implemented. POSCO signed an MoU with the Orissa
government in mid-2005, for the setting up of an integrated steel and
power plant, a private port and mining of over 600 million tonnes of
Orissa's high grade iron ore.
For the steel and power plants alone the project needs around 4004
acres, of which 3566 acres is government owned forest and revenue land
but 438 acres belongs to local farmers who are refusing to part with
it. The PPSS apprehends that over 25 platoons of police are being
brought in to surround the farmers sitting on dharna at Balitutha,
which is at the entrance to the land that belongs to them.
As per a letter issued by the Collector of Jagatsinghpur District on
January 19 this year Palli Sabhas in the project area have been asked
to obtain approval of local bodies about the 'diversion of their lands
under forest category to POSCO' by February 10th. On February 3
however, at a meeting of Palli Sabha of Nuagaon village all the 700
participants unanimously disapproved of the move. In a resolution
passed at the Palli Sabha they said that such lands were being used
by people for cultivation and housing since last 300 years and in no
case they can be handed over to POSCO. Other Palli Sabhas in the area
are expected to pass similar resolutions.
PPSS activists say, faced with the firm opposition to the POSCO
project and land acquisition the Orissa adminstration is getting
desperate and plans to remove the farmers by force. On February 1 the
state government issued a notice in various newspapers that if the
people fail to file their claims for compensation within fifteen
days, they will get nothing at all.
The PPSS dharna has found support around the country with leaders of
trade unions and people's movements visiting the protestors sitting on
dharna. Those participating in the dharna include leaders of leaders
of the All India Trade Union Congress from different states and the
Orissa Bidi Workers and Domestic Workers Associations.
For further information contact:
Prashant Paikray, spokesperson, PPSS at Ph: (0) 9437571547.
----------------
Ground Zero
http://orissaconcerns.net/2010/02/ground-zero/
Dilip Bisoi
Financial Express
Posted online: Feb 07, 2010 at 1959 hrs
From Bhubaneswar, it takes us five hours to reach Patna village, at
the heart of Posco-India's planned 12-million tonne steel plant. We
find children playing with pebbles, but they aren't at an innocuous
game—they arrange tiny stones across the road when they see an
approaching vehicle, imitating elders who routinely put up road
blockades or gates to prevent entry of unknown vehicles. Patna falls
within the core area of the proposed 4,004 acre plant site, and
villagers, who are against the project, keep round-the-clock vigil on
the movement of outsiders.
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik may have assured South Korean
President Lee Myung-Bak that the land acquisition process for the
$12-billion plant in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district will be speeded
up, but at Ground Zero, things don't look so easy. Posco-India still
doesn't have an inch of land, though the final forest clearance came
through in December, on the eve of Lee's visit to India as chief guest
for Republic Day. Of the 4,004 acres identified for the project,
2,958.79 acres is forestland.
He was keen to visit the Posco site, but was told the ground situation
wasn't conducive. There's stiff resistance to the project from locals,
but Posco-India and the Orissa government is hoping to win over the
opposition with the promise of a better rehabilitation and
resettlement policy.
"The resettlement and rehabilitation package of Posco-India for the
plant at Jagatsinghpur is in line with the Orissa government's R&R
Rules 2006, which is regarded as one of the best R&R policies in the
country," says Posco-India General Manager (external relations)
Simanta Mohanty. "We are confident that everybody in our project area
will be at an advantage with our package. Our package is specially
oriented towards landless labour and we have made special provisions
for employment of those needing jobs. We are compensating those who
have planted betel vines on government land and we are sure they will
see that we are giving them a fair deal," he adds. Over the past three
months, the Patnaik government, too, has given a push to the land
acquisition process, but villagers will need a lot of convincing
before they give up their land.
In neighbouring Govindpur, children play cricket, imagining the ball
to be Posco-India. Every time a batsman hits the ball hard, a cheer
goes up. The villagers of Govindpur are quite militant in their
opposition to the project, considered to be the country's largest FDI.
Four years of agitation have changed the lives of villagers living in
Posco's proposed site. For villagers, guarding the gates has become a
daily chore. All their discussions revolve around the Posco project.
Womenfolk do their household work, but with an eye on the main street
for Posco executives or government officials. Posco officials are
often detained for a few hours by villagers.
The two villages of Govindpur and Dhinkia are at the heart of the site
and this is where the dictates of the Posco Pratirodha Sangaram Samiti
(PPSS), the organisation that is spearheading the anti-project
movement, runs. PPSS has virtually converted the 4,004 acres into a
fort, with 17 gates plugging all the roads to the core area. No gates
open without the permission of PPSS. The PPSS chief, Abhaya Sahoo,
guards the main gate at Balitutha, the entry point to the Posco site.
The PPSS network is quite strong. When government officials or Posco
company executives start from Bhubaneswar for Jagatsinghpur, Sahoo
gets the information, and villagers are alerted immediately.
With the forest clearance coming through, and Lee's visit putting the
project onto the fast track, the Jagatsinghpur Collector has put out
ads asking betel vine owners to claim compensation and give up the
land. Interestingly, the 4,004 acres is part of a vast stretch of land
that was added to the mainland when the sea receded, so the landscape
is dotted with huge sand mounds. The government says the reclaimed
land is government land but people have lived here for generations.
Over the years, the forests too have disappeared—first the mangroves
and then the casuarina plantations, destroyed by a super cyclone. Now,
villagers grow betel vines and cashew on the high lands and have
converted the low laying areas to paddy fields. "The paddy field gives
us rice for the whole year and the betel vines the cash to buy other
items," says Ramesh Mohanty. "We will not allow the Posco project to
come up on this site," says PPSS chief Abhaya Sahoo. "No
rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) policy is acceptable to us," he
points out.
When you argue that Posco-India has promised to give a better package
than the R&R package announced by the state government, Dhinkia
sarpanch Sisira Mohapatra, who is also the general secretary of PPSS,
shows you the R&R package of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for the
oustees of Paradip Refinery project. A vacant plot of seven acres,
earmarked with concrete pillars outside village Dhinka, is the
so-called rehabilitation colony. The abandoned, dilapidated facility
centre (hospitals, schools and temples) isn't assuring villagers.
"We have seen the R&R package of a public sector company. How do we
trust a foreign private company?" Mohapatra shoots back. The stories
of promises not kept and the success of people's movements like the
anti-missile test range agitation of Baliapal have kept the resistance
against Posco alive. But the Orissa government too has made a heap of
promises to Posco-India which it will find very difficult to walk away
from.
______________________________ _________________
connect mailing list
connect@lists.orissaconcerns.net
http://lists.orissaconcerns.net/listinfo.cgi/connect-orissaconcerns.net
http://orissaconcerns.net
--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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