Church calls land block ‘misleading”

(June 23, 2011) Provincial officials have halted a land acquisition deal with a South Korean steel firm, but activists and local Church officials in the coastal state say the decision may not be permanent. The Orissa government suspended plans to grant a 4,000-acre land concession to the Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO) that would see construction of a steel plant, power station and port in Jagatsinghpur district. Father Nicholas Barla, a tribal leader and rights activist in the state, said the halt was misleading. It is only temporary. It is a strategy to divert people’s attention,” adding that the decision followed a recent visit to the area by national politicians. The US$12 billion project has provoked violent protests by tribal residents over land displacement since the deal – the largest foreign investment project in India’s history – was announced in 2005. “No doubt, the administration will resume land acquisition later.” Father Barla said the land deal should not be made at the expense of tribal residents in the area. Father Santosh Digal, secretary of the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar archdiocese Commission for Social Communication, said the state would use force to acquire the land “by hook or crook,” adding that the halt was merely a ploy. Prashant Paikrav, a spokesman for tribal residents pointed out that the 20 police platoons deployed have not been withdrawn from the area. “It is testing the patience of the people, but the movement will continue until the project is permanently cancelled.”