Activists join anti-Posco protest,acquisition put off

Govt says children used in protests,calls for report.

With several social activists making a beeline to the Posco project area to support the protesting villagers,the state government seems to have halted its land acquisition for Poscos 12 million tonne steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district.

The state government has not been able to make any major progress in the key villages of Gobindpur and Dhinkia over the last one week after thousands of villagers with their children formed a human chain stopping the advance of the police and land acquisition teams. The district administration,which stopped land acquisition during the last two days citing inclement weather,on Monday backtracked on its plans after social activist Medha Patkar joined the villagers.

Patkar,who came two days after Swami Agniveshs visit to the site,said the anti-Posco movement would become the focal point for a new movement in the country. When I had met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik last time,I requested him to come to Jagatsinghpur. Instead,he sent his police force, said Patkar,as she joined the protesting children and their parents on Gobindpur-Nuagaon border.

On Saturday,Agnivesh had described the anti-Posco protest as the new Chipko movement in which people are ready to die for their homes.

Sources in Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti PPSS,the anti-Posco front,said CPM MP Gurudas Dasgupta is also likely to visit the area.

With high-profile activists visiting the area,local administration is now in a tizzy. We will review the situation, said Jagatsinghpur additional district magistrate S K Choudhury.

The state government has sought a report on the use of children in anti-Posco protests. Orissa Women and Child Development Minister Anjali Behera said she has asked for a detailed report from Jagatsinghpur district officials.

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After I get that,we will initiate action against culprits, said Behera.

But PPSS president Abhay Sahu said there was no harm in children taking part in the agitation. It is wrong to say that children are being misused. They sit on dharna in the presence of their parents. No one forces them to do so, said Sahu.

Agnivesh agreed with the villagers: I dont see anything wrong in children taking up the cause of their parents8230;They are not left alone to fight the government.