Priest condemns land grab by Orissa State

(June 15, 2011) Church people and activists in eastern India’s Orissa State, have condemned the local government’s compulsory acquisition of land for a South Korean company’s steel plant. “Force has been used to acquire land,” said Fr.Santosh Digal, secretary of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar archdiocese’s commission for Social Communication. The priest alleged that the administration has falsely implicated some people and taken them to jail for resisting the land acquisition. The administration has reportedly placed 20 platoons of armed forces to maintain law and orde, as well as to help acquire the land for the Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO). The South Korean Company plans to set up a plant in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district to produce integrated steel. The project would also include a power station and a port. Fr. Digal wants the government to give adequate compensation to farmers whose land has already been taken.
Prashant Paikray, spokesperson of POSCO Resistance Committee, pointed out that the government has forcefully acquired 200 betel leaf farms and destroyed them. The latest trouble occurred when people came together and tried to re-erect the betel farms. Meanwhile, the National Council of Churches in India has appealed to the chief minister to stop using force on the protesters and render justice to the villagers, who are mostly tribal and low caste groups.