-The Financial Express
All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi has supported the demand to shift Posco India’s 12 million tonne steel project in Orissa to an alternative site. “If there is adequate non-agriculture land available, then that would be a better alternative,” Rahul Gandhi said.
The Orissa Congress is demanding that the project be shifted to a place near Dhinkia where over 7,000 acres of barren land is available. The Posco-Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), which is spearheading the agitation against the location of the project in Dhinkia gram panchyat, is also demanding the shifting of the project to nearby areas where wasteland is available.
Rahul Gandhi, who is on a two-day visit to the state from Wednesday, said if the displaced people were not given justice during the acquisition of their land, the Congress would support their cause.
Commenting on the performance of Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik, he said, “The government in Orissa is less corrupt compared to the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh”.