POSCO war zone - 613 families to be displaced for steel project

Wed, Mar09, 2011

ET reported that Orissa government said only 613 families would be displaced for POSCO steel project near Paradip.

While the number of families facing displacement for POSCO project was initially put at 803, it came down to 613 after the state government decided not to acquire private land at Dhinkia village.

POSCO project which initially required 4004 acre land, would now be set up over 3719.22 acre of land.

Mr Raghunath Mohanty steel minister said that "As the people of Dhinkia are opposed to the project and unwilling to vacate their land, the government has decided not to acquire land from the village.”

He said that with exclusion of private land from Dhinkia village, number of families to be displaced dropped from 803 to 613, adding that 190 families would benefit from the decision.

Mr Priyabrat Patnaik nodal officer for POSCO project said that "The South Korean steel major has also accepted the state government's decision of excluding Dhinkia village from its original plan.”

Of the 3719.22 acre of land for POSCO project, private land was only 152.69 acre while 3566 acre were government land, the minister said adding he was hopeful that the local people would not oppose the project, billed as the biggest foreign direct investment in the country.

Of the 3566 acre government land, 2958.79 acre was categorized as forest land and 607.74 acre non-forest revenue land. Mr Mohanty said that "We need diversification of forest land before handing it over to the company for starting work.”

On renewal of MoU with POSCO-India, the minister said that "We have been processing the file in this matter. IPICOL had already prepared a draft for the renewal of MoU.”

(Sourced from ET)