BHUBANESWAR:
“After Karnataka, it’s the time for the people of the State to force the
Government to say good bye to the Korean steel major Posco from the soil of
Odisha,” said National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) convener Prafulla
Samantara here on Wednesday.
Samantara
said that land acquisition for Posco was resisted by farmers in Karnataka where
the State Government did not come forward to acquire forcefully. Neither the
last BJP Government nor the present newly elected Congress Government did dare to
give Iron ore on lease to a foreign company like Posco which finally forced it
to go back, he added.
But
in Odisha, Samantara said, the State Government bowed down before the company
and ensured to give 600 million ton of iron ore on lease in Khandadhar for
which State would get only one tenth of market price which is more than Rs 7000
today. Therefore Posco will get minimum profit of Rs 3 lakh out of Iron ore
only after deduction of royalty and all expenditure of exploration and
appeasing people in power from Bhubaneswar to Delhi, he alleged.
“If
today the State Government decides not to give Iron ore on lease but on market
price, the next day Posco will quit not only Odisha but also India,” said
Samantara. As our State has opened door for the company to loot mines, water,
land and sea through SEZ and private port, therefore Posco has camped here even
people’s resistance continues since more than eight years, he added.
“Let
the people of Odisha force the Government to get out Posco in the interest of
our resources for future,” said Samantara.
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