The residents of Dhinkia village in Odisha, with the help of Debendra Swain of the anti-Jindal anti-Posco movement have written to CK Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) against the proposed construction of five projects by M/s JSW Utkal Steel Limited.

The projects are:

Integrated Steel Plant of 13.2 MTPA crude steel

10 MTPA cement grinding unit

900 MW captive power plants.

All weather, multi cargo, greenfield, captive jetties for handling capacity 52 MTPA at Jatadhari Township of 221,500 sq kms.

The villagers of Dhinkia, which falls in the Jagatsinghput district of Odisha believe that the projects will have irreversible impacts on local livelihoods and ecology; a fact that has been proven in the ministry’s own records.

Opposing the environmental clearance granted for the projects, the villagers have said that the project proponents have mislead them about the scale of the project and the faulty environment impact assessment.

The villagers have highlighted their objections to be:

The proposed projects are said to be ‘two’ in number, but consist of at least five separate components. .  For instance the “first project” that has three components: A Steel Plant, A thermal power plant and a cement grinding plant have all been granted a joint Terms of Reference under “Metallurgical Industries (ferrous & non-ferrous).” 

The mention of the construction of a township has not been disclosed in the public hearing dated December 20, 2019. The township is a building and construction project and attracts a separate approval from the Odisha State Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA). This amounts to “false and misleading” data as M/s JSW Utkal Steel has selectively clubbed and broken up components of an integrated project that allows them to bypass detailed scrutiny and comprehensive assessment by all applicable Expert Appraisal Committees (EAC). It also misleads the public by presenting the project only two projects and therefore requiring only two public hearings.

The villagers have also complained that no common Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report covering each project component has been prepared. Without a common EIA report, affected people and concerned citizens would not have the opportunity to review the cumulative and comprehensive impacts of all components of an integrated/interlinked project such as the above.

The villagers have also questioned the adequacy of water required for the execution of the projects as the Mahanadi River near Cuttack has been identified as the source river, though it is already stressed. The K Roy Paul committee had recommended that a “source sustainability study of water requirement” be carried out, but this precaution has completely been ignored while planning the projects. No assessment or analysis of historical floods and cyclones or the impact of the project on the natural drainage pattern has been conducted.

In light of the above, the members of the anti-Jindal anti-Posco movement have demanded the following:

1.       Expedient action through your office towards immediately recalling the public hearings held on 20.12.2019.  

2.       Cancellation of the projects on grounds of providing false and misleading data by selectively clubbing and breaking up components of a project that misleads both the public and the appraisal committees. 

After the villagers of Jagatsinghpur fought off the South Korea steel giant POSCO which wanted to acquire land there, it had to gear up to fight JSW Utkal Steel, led by Sajjan Jindal for the same. They are striving to protect the betel leaf cultivation, almost a Rs. 50 crore industry in the area which is the major source of livelihood for the people there apart from fishing and agriculture.

The leaders of the movement against POSCO had been slapped with grave non-bailable offences of murder, rape, dacoity and kidnapping, reported The Hindu. Some 1,500 villagers have been shuttling between courts in Jagatsinghpur and Kujang to get reprieve in the 2,500 non-bailable arrest warrants issued against them. “We had not even seen a police station before 2005, when the land acquisition process began. These cases must be dropped,” says Swain, who stands accused in 22 cases.

Regarding JSW setting up a plant on POSCO land, a villager told The New Indian Express, “It is illegal to set up the JSW plant on Posco land. The State Government should have returned the land to people as no project could be set up within five years of its acquisition.” He also alleged that around 5,000 betel vine workers were rendered jobless due to dismantling of vines during land acquisition for Posco. The Government had decided to give sustenance allowance of Rs. 2,500 to each betel vine worker and 20 per cent of the compensation awarded to their respective vineyard owner. However, 99 per cent of the workers are yet to receive the allowance and compensation, he added.

Related:

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If we are here, only then will the jungle remain: Adivasis and forest dwellers
40,000 trees cut in Odisha!

The post First POSCO, now JSW: Dhinkia villagers are still fighting for their land and compensation appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: The Hindu

On September 17, 2019, the Ministry of Environment and Forest accepted the State Government’s proposal to transfer the forest clearance given to the land which was previously acquired for Korean giant POSCO Steel to the Sajjan Jindal-led JSW. Around 447 families are likely to be displaced by the proposed steel project.

The Economic Times had reported that JSW requires 23 million tonnes of iron ore for its plants which have an 18-million tonne annual capacity. It reports that the company was already preparing to lay a 30-million tonne slurry pipeline to carry iron ore from mines in Odisha’s Joda and Barbil districts in the north to its pellet plant in Jajpur, Brahmani River Pellets which it acquired in December 2017 and has also invested in two berths at the Paradip Port.

The History
In 2005, PPSS emerged as a movement in resistance to the intended POSCO-India project. POSCO, the world’s fourth-largest steelmaker, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Odisha government to set up a 12-million-tonne-capacity steel project in Jagatsinghpur district.
At nearly Rs. 52,000 crores, the project was the largest source of foreign investment in Indiaat that time.It purported to transfer more than 12,000 acres of land to POSCO, displacing up to 20,000 people in the process. The villagers were additionally denied access to the surrounding forest which was the main source for their livelihoods. The deforestation and crop destruction caused to make space for the plant had severe environmental impacts.

Scroll.in reported that the resistance was largely because the project would destroy the betel-based economy which sustained 20,000-odd people from eight villages in Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadakujanga gram panchayats. About three quarters ofthe total 4,004 acres required for the plant was to come from forestland, which was dotted with around 5,000 betel vines that assured farmers an average income of at least Rs. 20,000 per month.

In 2013, ESCR-Net and the International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) at NYU School of Law released the report, The Price of Steel, which narrated attempts to forcibly evict the villagers from their land and highlighted the serious violations of international and Indian law.

Prafulla Samantarahad filed a PIL with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) challenging the illegal chopping of more than 2 lakh trees without any government clearances. Writing for Sabrang India, he reported on how district officialsand POSCO India managers had persuaded nearly 40 families to leave their villages with assurance of proper rehabilitation, and were kept in a transit camp for ten years without any civic amenities and human dignity while being portrayed as victims of the anti-POSCO struggle.

In 2017, after more than a decade of resistance in the face of severe state repression including unfounded criminal charges against thousands of activists, the POSCO-India project was finally abandoned. However, rather than returning the land to the communities, it was saved in a so-called ‘land bank’ and recently transferred to another steel company, JSW Utkal Steel Ltd. (JUSL).The PPSS President Abhay Sahu said that police have registered at least 32 cases against the villagers for re-occupying the land and setting up betel vines for which they have already received compensation from the government.

Therefore, the villagers are once again facing their land being transferred to a steel company, which in turn will have serious, negative impacts on their enjoyment of human rights.

Related:
Human Suffering, Environmental Degradation: That’s What POSCO Produced In Odisha
Victory of Anti-Posco Struggle
Return Land to Villagers, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti Demands
FDI in Coal: Why Every Ounce of Our Mineral Resources Should Remain in Public Hands
Black clouds over Saranda: Centre set to open up 43000 ha of Jharkhand’s forests for mining

The post Tougher Than Steel: Odisha Community Rally Against Transfer of Their Land, Again appeared first on SabrangIndia.

It was the sustained and peaceful resistance of the people that compelled POSCO to exit finally. Despite the success of the struggle it has been recently learned hat the government of Odisha is planning to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to hand over our land to another company namedJSW Steel Limited. JSW Steel Limited is a part of the Sajjan Jindal controlled JSW Group.

The company is likely to invest Rs 50,000 crore for the 10 mtpa steel mill and a 900 MW capacity power plant.  The company has also pledged an investment of Rs 2,000 crore to set up a captive port in Odisha’s coast at Jatadhari Muhan near Paradip.  The Committee  has declared that they  will continue to fight against this forceful acquisition of our land,

In 2011, over 2,700 acres of land was forcefully acquired by the state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) for the proposed Posco project. After the POSCO announced withdrawal of its project, the government had cancelled the land allotment to Posco and kept it in its land bank.

According to the  Right to Fair Compensation and Transperancy in  Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (LARR) of 2013 “Land acquired and possession taken over but not utilized within a period of five years from the date of possession shall in all cases revert back to the original land owner.  

However,  the protestors have alleges that the Odisha government – – to counter the pro people impact of the central law – – enacted the ‘Odisha government’s revised policy for land acquisition notified on February 7, 2015’  under which “Land acquired and possession taken over but not utilized within a period of five years from the date of possession shall in all cases revert back to the state and be deposited in the Land Bank automatically.”

Meanwhile,  the Industrial Development Corporation of Odisha (IDCO) authority has started boundary wall construction near Nuagaon in late May 2017. The boundary wall is likely to be built around 18 km covering adjacent villages Nuagaon, Govindapur, Polanga, Gadakujanga and Baynapala kondh at an estimated cost of Rs 13 crore. The wall will eventually fence off the nearby Dhinkia and Gobindpur villages too.

MEMBERS of the PPSS from Nuagaon village strongly protested against the construction of boundary wall around a 1,700 hectare piece of land on the village’s periphery. The fencing of the land by IDCO is unwarranted and illegal, as the authorities have not settled our forest rights claims. Their claim is that the vovernment of Odisha has consistently failed to recognize both their individual and community rights over forest lands under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights Act) Act (FRA) 2006.

To strongly register their protest,  residents of Nuagaon, Dhinkia and Gobindpur villages have submitted applications to the local authorities to claim their land and forest rights, but these claims have not been processed since 2011. SIGNIFICANTLY,  three different official committees i.e., the Saxena Committee, the POSCO Enquiry Committee and the FAC – found that the Forest Rights Act,  2006 had been violated in the proposed POSCO area. Besides, on several occasions in the past, the gram sabhas of the area have passed majority resolutions against any handover of their lands.

The Committee  has demanded that the government must respect the unanimous resolution passed by over 2,000 people at a gram sabha held in October 2012 that the land used for betel cultivation was under the rights provided to the gram sabha under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006. If it hands these lands over to Jindal Steel instead of POSCO, the government will be committing a further criminal offence under the FRA, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the SC/ST prevention of atrocities Act 1989. Thus under the Forest Rights Act of 2006, this makes any handover illegal.
 
The people whose land and beetle vines are allegedly forcefully destroyed and acquired by the government for POSCO, have lost their livelihood sources and now reduced to daily wage earners. Most of these families have farmed beetle leaves for generations, which they sell to earn a livelihood. They have no other employable skills. This is  why the Samiti had given a call and are determined to re-occupy these lands and reconstruct their vineyards.

It was on March 30, 2012, that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) suspended the environmental clearance for the project, calling for a fresh review due to concerns over the original environmental impact assessment.  However about 200,000 trees were felled despite the suspension. In May 2013, the NGT reiterated the project’s lack of environmental clearance and ordered POSCO to stop felling trees. In March 2017, POSCO stated that it was withdrawing from the project and requested the Odisha government to take back the land transferred to the company.

In July 2017, our villagers have filed a petition with the Kolkata bench of the National Green Tribunal. It’s has been asserted that the Odisha government cannot put this forest land into the land bank. According to the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, the government is required to get forest ‘clearance’ or approval from the central environment ministry to use forest land for a non-forest purpose. However, there is no provision to obtain forest clearance for a ‘land bank’ under the Act. The petition adds that under the Forest Rights Act of 2006, the government cannot change the use of forest land without recognizing the land and forest rights of people living or dependent on it for generations.

At present, the PPSS is struggling to provide legal defence for a total of 420 individuals.  In addition, warrants have been issued against 2500 people, including 500 women. Of these, approximately 400 of these individuals were, in fact, arrested. The remaining 2,000 (approximately) have remained at permanent risk of arrest and being denied their liberty.
 
 
 Demands of the PSSS:
 
1.     The government must also immediately stop the construction of a boundary wall around the land and allow  communities to access common lands that have traditionally depended on for livelihoods.
2.      Urgently process individual and community forest rights claims on land it had taken over for a POSCO project instead of transferring the land to a land bank.
3.     DECLARATION: THere is no provision under law or under any act which provides for land acquisition for any land bank for any purpose. Thus the land must return to the original inhabitants.
4.     The government of Odisha must follow the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Singur issue in which  the land of farmers bought for the Tata Nano plant was returned to them,
5.     Withdraw all false and fabricated cases on VILLagers.
 

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Several human rights, tribal rights groups, which have struggled for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 in the country have, in a press release vehemently criticized Govt. of Odisha for forcibly raising boundary wall over forest land acquired for POSCO and demand recognition of forest rights over those land of the concern villages in Jagatsinghpur district.

Rights groups ate of the view that the withdrawal of the POSCO from the site is due to consistent resistance of the local people led by Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) and after POSCO’s withdrawal due to the movement, the government of Odisha should respect the sentiments of the local people.

Emphasising the forest rights act, 2006, groups have asserted that FRA recognizes Gram Sabha as “Gram Sabha Sarkar” over the forest land and since all the 2700 acres of land Govt. of Odisha said to have been acquired for POSCO is revenue forest land falling within the revenue boundaries of 7/8 affected villages, it should be recognized as community forest resource(CFR) under FRA.”

Three different official committees i.e., the Saxena Committee, the POSCO Enquiry Committee and the FAC – found that the Forest Rights Act had been violated in the POSCO area. Besides, on several occasions in the past, the gram sabhas of the area have passed majority resolutions against any handover of their lands.

Commenting on the recent decision taken by Govt. of Odisha in High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) meeting to hand over the 2700 acres land acquired through Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Odisha (Idco) for POSCO to JSW Steel Limited, CSD said “For ten years the people of the area have been struggling against the illegal seizure of their lands. If it hands these lands over to Jindal Steel instead of POSCO, the government will be committing a further criminal offence under the FRA, the IPC and the SC/ST Atrocities Act. Thus under the Forest Rights Act, this makes any handover illegal.

Questioning the claims of Govt. of Odisha CSD, Odisha Convenor, Gopinth Majhi said “The government keeps claiming that the people in these villages support these projects. If so, why has the government not recognized their rights and taken the consent of the affected gram sabhas, as required under the Forest Rights Act? Why has it ignored all the majority resolutions passed by gram sabhas against any handover of these lands?” “If this criminal course of action is pursued by the government, all those who believe in the rule of law and in the rights of the people of this country will oppose them”.

Taking serious note of the cyclone sensitivity in the area and felling of around 200,000 trees in the area by POSCO which was stopped after the intervention of NGT in May 2013, groups have petitioned the state government to restore the lost vegetation and biodiversity in the area through the concern Gram Sabhas, the authorized bodies under the historic FRA, 2006.

CSD have also called upon the community people of the affected 7 villages to get united against the unjust acts of Govt. of Odisha and to take over the forest land as per FRA.

To recall, POSCO had signed a MoU with the state government on 22 June, 2005 and intended to set up a 12 million tonne steel plant at a cost of 12 billion dollars. This required 4004 acres land for the project.

Thanks to the consistent agitation led by Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) over land acquisition the project was delayed and as a result the company had later proposed to start work on at least 8 million tons steel capacity in the first phase. For this, the state-run Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) had acquired around 2700 acres of forest land for the proposed project. However when POSCO decided to withdraw from the project entirely in March 2017, that is, when Posco shelved entire the project, the State Government instead of returning the rich forest land acquired for the project has decided to preserve the acquired 2700 acres of land in the land bank for future industrial use. The boundary wall construction work was started in the site by Idco on May 18 has also been energetically protested by the locals.

Amnesty International has also brought out a detailed factsheet on the issue. Amesty says,

“The Government of Odisha must urgently process individual and community forest rights claims on land it had taken over for a POSCO project instead of transferring the land to a land bank, said Amnesty International India today. Authorities must also immediately stop the construction of a boundary wall around the land and allow communities to access common lands that they have traditionally depended on for their livelihoods.

“The land had been taken over for an integrated steel and captive power plant to be operated by South Korean steel giant POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Company). After POSCO pulled out of the project earlier this year, Odisha’s Industry Minister announced that the land would be transferred to the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO), a state agency. Authorities have begun constructing a boundary wall around the project site to prevent ‘illegal encroachments’.

“Much of the land taken over for the project between 2011 and 2013 was common land – village property which falls under the authority of local bodies, and was being cultivated by villagers. Activists say that state authorities have consistently failed to recognize local communities’ individual and community rights over forest lands under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights Act) Act (FRA). Many villagers said that they had submitted forest rights claims to local authorities, but these claims were not processed. In 2010, two committees constituted by the central government had recommended that authorities process the forest rights claims of communities before handing over the land to POSCO.

Under international human rights law, authorities are obligated to follow a genuinely consultative process with communities, and obtain the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples before taking over their land. The government is also obligated under Indian law to seek and secure the consent of the concerned gram sabhas (village assemblies) before diverting forest lands for industrial purposes. However gram sabha resolutions rejecting the project have been routinely ignored.

“The fencing of the land by IDCO is unwarranted and illegal, as the authorities have not settled forest rights claims over these lands. Villagers have engaged in betel vine cultivation for generations and passed gram sabha resolutions asserting their rights. They are determined to re-occupy these lands and reconstruct their vineyards”, said Prashant Paikrey, Spokesperson for the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, a local movement leading the protests against the project.

The failure to respect Indigenous peoples’ right to access and use their land violates not only international law, but also India’s domestic laws on land and forest rights. The Odisha government must recognize the forest rights of the communities who depend on these lands for their livelihoods, and seek the free, prior and informed consent of the concerned gram sabhas before taking any decision to put the land to industrial use.

Also Read
1.Return Land to Villagers, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti Demands
2.After defeating Posco, farmers turn to reclaim betel leaf economy
3. Victory of Anti-Posco Struggle
 
 

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Bhubaneswar: PTI reports that the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) on Tuesday threatened to revive its agitation if the Odisha government hands over the land acquired for the Posco project to JSW for its proposed mega steel plant and demanded that the acquired land be returned to farmers.

"We will revive the agitation against any move to hand over the land for industrial purpose. JSW may be interested in the land, but we will not allow it to set up the unit in the area," PPSS president Abhaya Sahu told PTI.

The PPSS had spearheaded the agitation against setting up Posco steel plant on the land by displacing farmers. "The people will not tolerate it and more people will come forward to save the land," Sahu said claiming that at least five persons (4 from anti-Posco group and one from pro-Posco camp) had laid down their lives during anti-displacement agitation.Sahu also claimed at least 100 new betel vines have already come up on the land acquired by the state government for the Posco project.

He said the police have registered at least 32 cases against the villagers for re-occupying the land and setting up betel vines for which they have already received compensation from the government.

On claims of villagers on the land, Sahu said: "The villagers might not have legal title over the land, but they were in possession of the land for decades before they were evicted. We will not allow use of the land other than agriculture purpose."

"The villagers were making a living by raising paddy, betel leaf, drum sticks and fish ponds at the site before it was snatched away for the Posco project", Sahu pointed out. The state government, on the other hand claimed that it has already acquired 2700 acres of land for Posco project. While about 1800 acre of the land was handed over to the company, the remaining land was in government's land bank.

Meanwhile, the state government has cancelled the land allotment made to Posco for not utilising it for over three years. On 29 April, JSW chief Sajan Jindal met Odisha Chief Secretary AP Padhi and said that Posco's site could be a location for his company to set up a 10 mtpa greenfield steel mill.

"The land acquired for Posco project is now in the land bank of the state government. There has been no decision to return the land to the people as done in Singur of West Bengal. The Posco site is now in the land bank," Odisha's Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra told PTI.Asked whether the land would be given to JSW which was interested to set up a steel plant near Paradip, Mishra said: "No such decision has been taken so far. However, there is a marked difference between Singur and Dhinkia."

During the encroachment free drive from Dhinkia area, the state government had demolished around 1,592 betel vines and paid compensation to the farmers.
 

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(Photo Courtesy : The Hindu)

Big news – at times – go completely unnoticed.

(Thanks to the mediatised times we are passing through)

And thus it did not appear surprising that the decision by Posco, the South Korean steelmaker, the fourth biggest in the world, to exit the proposed 12 million-tonnes a year steel plant in Odisha did not cause much flutter. Yes, newspapers duly reported POSCO India’s ‘request to the Odisha government to take back the land provided to it near Paradip’ where it was supposed to invest 52,000 crore Rs.’ The letter stated company’s ‘failure to start work on the proposed plant’.

Perhaps none from the media wanted to showcase a negative example which is at variance with the efforts by the powers that be to project the idea of ‘ease of doing business’ here. Undoubtedly at a time when the government is keen to attract foreign capital and inducing it in very many ways, the way in which a Corporate Major – supposed to be one of the leading in the steel sector – had to exit from its project can easily shake their confidence about investing here. Or was it to cover up the fact that over the years how the South Korean Steel Major had dealt a heavy blow to the local environment by felling down more than eight lakh trees at the project site and residents are demanding accountability and compensation over such large scale environmental destruction.  What is more disturbing has been the fact that while the Union Environment Ministry never gave permission to cut the trees the MNC with due help from the local administration and law and order machinery went ahead with it. A case has been filed before the National Green Tribunal about this issue. (http://www.orissapost.com/residents-demand-compensation-for-rampant-tree-felling-by-posco/)
Question arises why did POSCO decide to quit despite receiving continued support from the central as well as the state government? Remember the company had been handed over 1,700 acres of land by the Odisha state for the project and around 1,000 acres of land was still lying with the state which it had acquired for the project. In fact, the Odisha government went ahead with the forcible land acquisition for the steel plant despite the fact that POSCO did not have an environmental clearance for the project. And also the environmental clearance given by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on January 31, 2011 had also been suspended by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on 30 March 2012.

Whether it had a ‘change of heart’ about concerns expressed by local people – who were leading and continuing with the struggle which was billed as one of the ‘largest social movements in recent times’ – about the devastation it had brought out in the lives of the people or the company decided to become ‘green’ and decided to discontinue the project.

Definitely not.

Capital or capitalists never get moved by such humanitarian concerns ( which are exhibited by lesser mortals like us). Soul of capital or capitalists rest in profit only. It is the sole criterion for it to make decisions. (As an aside if capital/capitalist would have been really ‘moved’ by human misery neither we would have seen giant armament factories manufacturing weapons of death or and human trafficking becoming ‘lucrative’ business or crores of children slogging out on peanuts).

It is now history how the proposed project witnessed resistance by masses since its inception- which was spontaneous first and which later coalesced into formation of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti – since the state government signed an MOU with POSCO in June 2005 to set up a steel plant on 4,004 acres of land in Kujang at a plan outlay of `54,000 crore. The project was then claimed as the ‘largest investment by any multinational in the country.’

The mass movement which compelled the company to scrap its project altogether – wherein people showed exemplary courage, determination and creativity was led by activists of CPI (Communist Party  of India) and other progressive formations – had to face brutal repression at the hands of the goons of the management which were in connivance with the police and administration. A statement issued by Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (http://icrindia.co.in/mydirectory/2017/03/24/update-from-posco-pratirodh-sangram-samiti-ppss/) hailing the victory tells how four persons associated with the movement were martyred during the struggle and scores have been injured, how ‘several leaders of the movement have been jailed multiple times’ and how ‘more than 2000 warrants have been issued against the people and more than 400 false cases both men and women have been registered at the Kujang police station since 2005.’

Excerpt of a memorandum submitted by various organisations and individuals who had organised a protest in Delhi against killing of anti-Posco activists and forcible land grabbing makes it clear the intensity of violence perpetrated by the corporate–police-goonda nexus in the region to suppress the voice of the people. It said :
 

On 2nd March, hired musclemen of POSCO with the full complicity of Odisha Police threw bombs at anti-POSCO activists in Patana village, in which 4 activists were killed and several others were seriously injured. Out of the 4, 3 were killed as a direct consequence of the police’s refusal to arrive at the spot for 15 hours after the bombing, or arrange for an ambulance to take the injured to a hospital. ..(http://nsi-delhi.blogspot.in/2013/03/protest-held-in-new-delhi-against_10.html)
 

And it cannot be denied the support garnered by the movement outside the affected area also proved helpful in reaching out to a large cross section of people and create a favourable public opinion. (http://nsi-delhi.blogspot.in/2013/02/demonstration-outside-indian-embassy.html)

It is noteworthy that the victory achieved by the united struggle of peasants, fisherfolks, forest dwellers to protect their land, livelihood and environment is breath of fresh air for all fighting forces in this part of the world where one finds a strange co-existence of Corporate Interests and Religion centred exclusivist politics..

But while celebrating this victory we should also bear in mind that while Posco has quit the project the issue of land acquired and transferred to Posco still remains. Odisha’s Industry minister has told the assembly that the land will be kept in a land bank and plans are being made to fence the land. As rightly pointed out by Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samity it is “illegal, undemocratic, anti-peasants, and unwarranted” and the state government “must follow the Supreme Court decision on the pattern of Singur where land of farmers acquired by Tata’s Nano plant in West Bengal was returned to them.” (http://icrindia.co.in/mydirectory/2017/03/24/update-from-posco-pratirodh-sangram-samiti-ppss/)

Another important issue is related to chopping down of thousands of tress – like mangroves, cashew nut, betel vines, fruit bearing trees – in the project area and adjoining villages. These trees had played a key role in 1999 Super Cyclone when because of the vast green cover and sand dunes, while thousands of people from nearby villages perished, people in this area remained unaffected. Now with the cutting of trees, these villages have also become vulnerable to cyclones. While substituting the natural forest looks impossible, what the government can easily do is pay compensation to these concerned villagers who remained dependent on these trees. and initiate a campaign to plant eco-friendly trees in the region.  One can be sure that people of Jagatsinghpur and adjoining areas who humbled a big corporate major with their collective efforts can as well compel the government to concede to their demands.

As rightly said by legendary revolutionary Che Guevara, people united are always victorious.

This article was first published on kafila.online
 
 

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