Gurudas opposes POSCO project in Orissa

Bhubaneswar, May 27 (UNI) Accusing South Korea steel major POSCO of eyeing the huge iron-ore deposits in Orissa, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta today urged the people to oppose the project tooth and nail.

''We will rather sacrifice our lives but never allow the POSCO project to come up on the soil of Orissa, Mr Dasgupta said while addressing a convention, organised by the state unit of AITUC here.

The AITUC General Secretary welcomed the move of the state unit to oppose the POSCO project and criticised the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD-BJP government in the state for showing undue favour to the MNC in setting up the plant at the cost of the livelihood of thousands of farmers in the coastal district.

Mr Dasgupta warned that the POSCO project will trigger a severe water crisis in the area and upset the agricultural production in the coastal pockets.

He also opposed the handing-over of 4,000 acres of green and fertile land to POSCO when 70 per cent people in the state depended upon agriculture for their livelihood and said the worst sufferers of the steel project would be the farmers and labourers in the state.

The CPI Parliament leader also criticised the Naveen Patnaik government for recommending SEZ for the POSCO project and allowing the company to have a minor port near Paradip.

He assured the AITUC workers that he would raise the POSCO issue in the Parliament and urged the people to make Orissa a role model against the move of the MNCs to grab the valuable mineral resources of the state.

UNI