Magsaysay award winner lends weight to anti-Posco stir

KENDRAPADA: Right to Information campaigner and Magsaysay award winner Aruna Roy has asked the state government to stop construction and tree felling works for the proposed steel plant of Posco in the seaside gram panchayats of Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadakujang in Jagatsinghpur district and have a public debate on the issue.

Roy visited the villages in the proposed steel plant site on Sunday in support of the anti-land acquisition movement in these areas. "The government has no right to forcefully acquire fertile lands in these areas. The way the ministry of environment and forest dithered on Posco, ignoring the Saxena and Meena Gupta reports submitted by its own expert groups, clearly shows that the decision was taken under pressure from the Prime Minister’s office," Roy said. "In all fairness, I believe that the Prime Minister should order an independent inquiry.

Otherwise, the government’s credibility will come under the scanner. Announcements on fighting corruption cannot stand on their own unless they are followed by tangible action ," she said in Gobindapur while talking to media persons. "I am surprised that the UPA government, which frowned upon the forcible land acquisition proceedings launched by Uttar Pradesh government in Noida against the local farmers, is now an active partner in granting highly questionable clearances in favour of Posco in Orissa and even indirectly endorsing the state’s attempts to deploy the same draconian Land Acquisition Act against the local community. The Union government cannot have double standards in questioning human rights violations," Roy added.