After Vedanta and Polavaram, BJD rally to focus on Posco project

After slamming the Centre over Vedanta and Polavaram projects as part of its "Save Orissa Campaign", the ruling BJD in Orissa is organising another convention at Jagatsinghpur tomorrow to create public opinion against stalling of the proposed Posco steel plant.

The regional party's third rally in less than a fortnight is aimed to create public opinion against the Centre accusing it of adopting an anti-Orissa approach and hindering implementation of the Rs51,000 crore project.

Despite stiff opposition from local residents, the state government had managed to acquire about 1,000 acre land for the Posco project near Paradip but union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) last month issued a "stop work" order upsetting plans to carry forward the mega project.

"The Centre does not want industrialisation in Orissa. It also rejected a mining project of Vedanta besides putting hurdles before Posco," said finance minister Prafulla Ghadai who had attended BJD's two earlier "Save Orissa" rallies at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district and in Malkangiri.

While the party's Lanjigarh meeting was held against Centre's decision to halt Vedanta's mining project, the rally at Malkangiri attacked the Centre for allowing neighbouring Andhra Pradesh to set up a multi-purpose project at Polavaram.

Tomorrow's meeting at Jagatinsghpur district headquarters against the Centre's decision to halt Posco project, would be followed a mega-convention at the state capital sometime during the last week of this month, party sources said.