Swami Agnivesh joins anti-Posco agitation

BHUBANESWAR: Social activist Swami Agnivesh on Saturday opposed the "forceful" acquisition of land for the $12 billion Posco steel project in Orissa, adding that he will take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.Agnivesh, who spent Friday night with panic stricken villagers at the project site in Jagatsinghpur district, said he will meet Manmohan Singh and Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh to request them not to allow the destruction of an agriculture-based economy for a multinational company.Extending his solidarity to the villagers, he also joined them in their demonstration against the project in the troubled Govindpur village.Addressing a gathering of thousands, including women and children, he said the government had no right to forcibly evict families who have been earning their livelihood from land since generations."I am surprised that the government has been trying to demolish such a well developed agrarian economy to set up a steel plant," he said.Posco has planned to built a 12 million tonnes steel plant -- the largest foreign investment in India -- near the port town of Paradip, about 120 km from here.The company requires about 4,004 acres of land for the project, of which 2,900 acres is forest land. The local administration said it has already acquired nearly half of the land required for the project.The land acquisition was scheduled to resume Saturday. However, authorities postponed it to Monday due to heavy rains."The process might resume Monday if the weather remained conducive," Additional District Magistrate S.K. Chaudhuri told IANS. The Chaturvedi Committee, which also included aerospace scientist Roddam Narsimha, submitted its report to the Prime Minister on March 12.