Tension continues at POSCO site in Odisha

A day after the bloodshed at proposed POSCO site in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha, the situation continues to tense on Thursday. No construction work has started till Thursday afternoon. The Police have imposed 144 in the Bose Callis point where the clash between anti POSCO activists and construction workers took place in which one contract labour named Duryodhan Swain was killed.

Meanwhile a FIR was lodged against former legislator and CPI leader Narayana Reddy who led the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti(PPSS) activists in the absence of it's leader Abhaya Sahoo who is in jail now. Crude bomb and stones were hurled in a pitched battle between lathi wielding anti-POSCO activists and workers of a construction company on yesterday on the site of a proposed road from Paradip to POSCO site.

In spite of the sporadic violence before in the disputed construction site there was no police or official of district administration to look into the matter. According to an eyewitness, had there been police, the bloodshed could have been avoided. Vidhan Sabha Opposition leaders have condemned the bloodshed in proposed POSCO site. Even NCP, the ally of ruling has expressed regret over the incident.

Minister Raghunath Mohanty has told the government is probing into the cause of the violence. Opposition leader Bhupinder Singh expressed shock and said it's a matter of grief that how could police left them for fighting and was not present at that time? The government must be held accountable for this.

Kanak Bardhan Singhdeo, the leader of BJP has told, in future it will be costlier for the government. Amar Prasad Satpathy, NCP leader opines that, it's not fair to built the road forcibly when people's are against it. It would heighten the struggle. It seems difficult for the administration to inaugurate the first office of the POSCO building in Nuagaon which is scheduled to be inaugurate on Friday jointly by POSCO CMD and CMD of IIDCO after this incident.