Committed to POSCO project: Singh

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar, Nov 17: Union Steel Secretary Rakesh Singh on Monday said that the Centre as well as Odisha Government were committed to the POSCO steel project in the State.“Both the Government of India and the State Government are committed to the project.The land acquisition and other activities are going on though there may be some delay.There have been delays in the past.But we are very keen and confident that the POSCO project will come up in the near future,” Singh told journalists after reviewing several steel projects at the State Secretariat here.Responding to a question about granting prospecting licence for Khandadhar mines to POSCO, Singh said: “I am not fully aware about granting of mines.That is a separate ministry.I will go and take it up with my counterpart in mines Ministry.”A few days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured the South Korean that work on the POSCO project would be expedited.Modi and South Korean President Park Genu- hye were locked in a diplomatic talk in Myanmar during the East Asia Summit.The principal thrust of the discussion between the two was regarding the expedition of big-ticket POSCO steel project near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has also endorsed the views of Modi and expressed hope that the hurdles for the project would be sorted out.Even as the Bureau crats chalked out strategies to expedite steel projects and ensure iron ore linkage for them, displaced and land-losers’ families from the proposed POSCO steel project villages are anguished a lot over prime minister Narendra Modi’s pro-project stand.“We have come across media reports that Modi assured his committed resolve towards POSCO project.We the displaced families are deeply upset with Modi’s stand.BJP had earlier actively participated in the resistance movement against the South Korean steelmaker.BJP delegations headed by Jual Oram had rushed to the project villages several times in past years to expressed solidarity with people who are losing their bread and butter and place of living due to the project.It’s disconcerting to note that Prime Minister Modi is advocating the cause of anti-people foreign industrial house contrary to his party’s past stand,” said general secretary of anti-POSCO outfit Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti Sisir Kumar Mahapatra.“We are shocked to know that the president of South Korea is interested for a private company like Posco.It is none of the South Korean government’s business whether the people of India will allow Posco project on their land or not,” he said.“Our fight against the plant would go on till the government relocates the project from this place.Our agitation has hitherto been peaceful in true democratic.However people would be forced to turn law-breakers if the project work that has been halted for over a year would get underway,” Mahapatra added.