Medha serves ultimatum to Naveen on POSCO proj

Bhubaneswar, Oct 14: Social activist Medha Patkar today served an ultimatum to Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to discuss with the anti-POSCO agitators sitting on dharna for last 20 days by tomorrow morning.

Addressing the activists of Rastriya Yuva Sangathan and Navanirman Samitee, Ms Patkar said social activists country wide would join hands extending their support to intensify the agitation against the POSCO project.

''It is shocking that the Chief Minister has not responded to our proposal for an open debate on POSCO project,'' Ms Patkar, who have been resorting to hunger strike since September 18 last said, ''Is the Chief Minister ashamed of or scared of the activists.'' She had asked Mr Patnaik to come to the agitation site or send his representatives to have a dialogue with the activists within 18 hours.

''If the Chief Minister did not turn up by 0900 hours tomorrow we will be forced to intensify the agitation and make it a national movement,'' she warned.

Ms Patkar said she had visited the site of the steel plant proposed by the south Korea steel major POSCO, which would displace thousands of people from their land.

She also opposed the SEZ status accorded to the POSCO project and the agitators to treat the Chief Minister in the same way as he was treating them by not responding to their call for an open debate.

UNI