Orissa Congress leaders' warning on Posco

Asserting that Posco project would never be allowed on fertile land near Paradip, two Orissa Congress leaders today said the proposed mega steel plant project could only come up if it was shifted to a new location in Jagatsinghpur district.

"Orissa government should realise that the Rs 52,000 crore project can never come up by terrorising people who depend on fertile land for their livelihood," senior Congress leaders Umesh Swain, Sibananda Ray and Kailash Acharya told reporters here.

They said that instead of trying to evict people from the present location, the government should shift the site to Padmapur area, barely 3 km south of the Jatadhari river mouth near Paradip.

Stating that about 8,000 acre of barren land was available in the area, Swain said there would be little resistance from the people if land was acquired there for setting up the 12 mtpa steel mill.

The Congress leaders warned that a mass movement would be launched across the state to prevent any attempt at forcible land acquisition.