Subject: CONDEMNATION OF ARMED POLICE INTERVENTION in Jagatsinghpur, Orissa

Update: Prevent another Nandigram! Situation in Orissa villages Tense | Attacks on Anti- POSCO Agitators

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For more information Posco creates issues in Orissa


13th April, 2007

To:


Chief Minister of Orissa - Shri Navin Patnaik. Fax: 91-674-2400100

Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh. Fax: 91-11-23019545 / 91-11-23016857

Dear Chief Minister,

Villagers opposed to POSCO's steel plant in Jagatsinhpur district of Orissa are now at the receiving end of state violence. Fearful of the consequences of allowing Government surveyors access to their lands, villagers of Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Garakuchang have barricaded themselves inside their villages, thereby restricting public access to the proposed project areas.

The sentiment, very clearly, is against the setting up of the giant steel smelter and captive port. However, the State Government egged on by a Prime Minister who has extended his personal blessings to the project is keen to get on with the POSCO project at any cost.

With statutory public hearing around corner, the Government has deployed fifteen platoons of paramilitary armed to the teeth. On 9 April, paramilitary forces staged a flag-march aimed to intimidate local opposition. The State Administration has chosen to hold the Public Hearing, as a mere formality, at Kuchang the stronghold of the ruling BJD party.

According to local reports, the area is crawling with paid henchmen and cadre of the ruling party. With the multinational POSCO, the State Government, the paramilitary and the BJD henchmen lined on one side against farmers, fisherfolk and workers opposed to POSCO on the other, the stage is set for a repeat of Nandigram.

I hereby demand that the State Government:

1. Create conditions favourable for hearing the villagers' concerns by removing paramilitary forces and police from the vicinity of project area.

2. Announce that no project will be located against the wishes of the local people

By underestimating the depth of opposition to the POSCO project, the Orissa Government may be committing the same mistake that the West Bengal Government did in Nandigram.

In Solidarity,

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