Will activists Shiva, Patkar light the Posco pyre in Orissa?

Children protesting against the $12 billion steel plant in Orissa has surely unnerved the nation, with the government temporarily halting the land-acquisition process in Jagatsinghpur district. Adding more momentum to the movement, environmentalist Vandana Shiva, social activists Medha Patkar and Swami Agnivesh have decided to join the _dharna_ against Posco’s mega steel project. But it seems this is only a temporary respite as the government is confident that Posco will complete their acquisition. The presence of activists and political parties has made the government’s task tougher, but the Orissa Steel and Mining Minister Raghunath Mohanty said “For Posco we require 3719 acres out of which we have already acquired around 2,000 acres. There is only 152 acres private land. We will discuss with only the villagers who will be displaced to acquire the land and the government is sure we will be successful in doing so.” [caption id=“attachment_30308” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Compounding the woes of the villagers, the government has decided to renew the that the six-year-old MoU with Posco. PTI”]  [/caption] Blaming the Orissa government for forcing the villagers to lose ownership of their land and wreck their means of livelihood, Shiva said, “There is no justification for setting up the steel plant in the fertile land of the area where rural economy has prospered with multi-crop farming and other economic activities like fisheries and plantation.” Pressurising the government, Swami Agnivesh reiterated, “This is a highly fertile land and no amount of money can compensate the farmers if they loose their livelihood.” The government, however, disregarded  the protest and accelerated work for constructing a  boundary wall around the land already acquired in Gadakujang panchayat area. The district administration is likely to resume the land acquisition as soon as the issue is out of the media’s spotlight and politicians and social activists stop  their site visits, reports ibnlive, citing sources. Compounding the woes of the affected villagers, the state announced on Wednesday— the day the protestors observed a Black Day—that the six-year-old memorandum of understanding(MoU) with Posco will be renewed. Moreover, the government has already started levelling the land acquired for the steel plant, which is incidentally the country’s biggest FDI venture till date. Despite the state’s unrelenting posture, the villagers are determined to hold on to their land as they vow to avert the Posco threat via the Gandhian mode. On Wednesday, they hoisted black flags in their homes and sported black badges. CPI deputy general secretary Sudhakar Reddy and Congress chief Umesh Swain attended a meeting organised by the Posco Pratirodhak Sangram Samiti (PPSS),  an organisation which has been fighting against the project, in the presence of 6,000 villagers. It’s obvious the six-year-old battle will continue to remain a long drawn process. The explosive issue of land acquisition has often pitted the poor against the private sector and the government. Thousands have been protesting against the mega project; women and children have formed human chains to protect the site after the project got the final  environmental clearance this month.  In order to gather more support, the children will continue to remain on the forefront and will observe another Black Day on Friday. But this time it won’t be a lost voice. The Black Day will be observed across the country.