The Posco India hostage crisis came to an end late on Friday night, with the Gobindpur villagers releasing the company executives they had taken captive earlier in the day, according to TV channels.
The administration has made elaborate police arrangement to conduct land acquisition at the trouble-torn Gobindpur village from Tuesday even as the anti-Posco activists have formed a human chain on the outskirts of Gobindpur village to prevent the entry of officials.
Sources said, they have been driven to desperation because of their inability to pay back the crop loan due to abject poverty.
Resentment is also brewing over the fact that instead of employing locals, peripheral development work has been entrusted to outsiders.
Ten betel vine plantations were dismantled in the first few hours without any resistance from locals, official sources said, adding that payments would be made soon.
Violence had marred the acquisition yesterday following allegations of police crackdown on opponents.
About 250 acres of land had been acquired during four days of acquisition drive undertaken last month.
Project opponents, led by Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti, the organisation spearheading the agitation against the South Korean company, held a massive rally and protest meeting on Saturday at Balitutha, entry point to the project site. People from the affected villages such as Dhinkia, Gobindpur, Nugaon and Gadkujang attended.
Altogether eight teams comprising six members each entered Gobindpur gram panchayat area in Jagatsinghpur district and conducted socio-economic and forest land survey without police protection, a senior official said.
Defying a poll boycott call, an estimated 49.84 per cent voters exercised their franchise on Tuesday in 35 assembly constituencies in the fifth phase of Bihar assembly elections amid stray incidents of violence.
Tension mounted in Dhinkia village in the Posco project site near Paradip in Orissa as the survey teams, conducting a socio-economic survey of the project site, came eyeball to eyeball with the villagers of Dhinkia, who vehemently oppose the project.
Villagers protesting the location of South Korean steel major Posco's proposed 12 million tonne steel project near here blocked all major roads leading to the project site after Orissa government issued land acquisition notice.
Land acquisition for the South Korean steel major Posco's proposed steel plant near Paradip was completed on Thursday with the Odisha government demolishing 25 more betel vines at Gobindpur village, official sources said.
'Even the most basic water amenities, people like us used every day, didn't exist there at all.'
Ridiculing Odisha government's claim that land acquisition for the proposed Posco project near Paradip was complete, CPI-backed Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) said demolition of betel vines did not mean taking over possession of farmers' land.
Instead of waiting for the government to do everything , the company has formed a crack team to persuade the villagers' opinion in their favour
In terms of electoral fortunes, in all likelihood, the status quo is not going to change in any significant manner. These six seats from Bihar are unlikely to give any clear signal to UPA, NDA or Federal Front.
Berhampur, the biggest city in southern Odisha, on Monday looked like a war zone as Cyclone Phailin left behind a trail of destruction. The cyclone accompanied by heavy rain hit Gopalpur, about 15 km from Behrampur, and battered the city and its nearby areas.
'Nitish is now a helpless junior ally of Hindutva.' 'He just cannot think of reining in the hoodlums raging, marauding and killing in the mohallas,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
The 2,500-hectares lease included both notified and non-notified areas.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances