5 political parties protest against Posco

The parties accused the BJD govt of submitting false report to the Centre.

Intensifying their stir against the proposed Posco project,workers of five political parties staged a demonstration here today accusing BJD government of submitting false report to the Centre on compliance of Forest Rights Act in areas identified for the steel mill.

Shouting slogans against the Naveen Patnaik government,workers of CPI,CPI-M,Forward Bloc,Samajwadi Party and RJD also burnt copies of the assurance report on FRA compliance submitted to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Leaders of protesting political parties said attempts were made to deprive about 3000 families of their livelihood for the Rs 52000 crore project in Jagatsinghpur district.

In a desperate bid,the state government gave “false” assurance to the Centre that there were no tribals or other traditional forest dwellers (OTDF) in the proposed plant site area near Paradip,they alleged.

They further claimed that there are tribal residents in Polang village and the state government has given “misleading” information in this regard.

The demonstrators said people in the area earn their livelihood by undertaking farming and plantation on fertile land besides engaging themselves in fishing.

Prominent among the demonstrators were former MLA Narayan Reddy,CPI leader Ramakrushna Panda,CPI-M leader Suresh Panigrahi,Santosh Mitra of Forward Bloc,SP leader Rabi Behera and RJD leader Hemant Kumar.

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