POSCO land acquisition: Maoists call for shutdown in Orissa

A 24-hour state-wide shutdown called by Maoists against "forcible land acquisition" for South Korean steel major POSCO's project and other issues hit normal life in southern parts of Orissa on Thursday, police said.

"Government buses are not plying in the Maoist-affected districts of Gajapati, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Koraput and Nabrangpur," a police official told IANS. Movement of private buses was also thin in the interior areas.

The impact of the shutdown was felt more in Chandragiri block in Rayagada and Daringbadi, Raikia, Baliguda Brahmanigaon and Kotpad block areas of Kandhamal district, he said.

While shops downed their shutters in the block headquarter town of Daringbadi, vehicular movement was thin in Kotgarh, Daringbadi and Brahmanigaon areas, he said.

Sabyasachi Panda, a leader of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, said through posters and leaflets that it was unacceptable that the Orissa government was forcibly displacing farmers in coastal Jagatsinghpur district to hand over their land to Posco.

The leader criticised the state government for harassing innocent people for their alleged links with the Maoists. He also came down heavily upon the central government for the recent fuel price hike.