Thousands protest against India\'s approval for POSCO plan

BHUBANESWAR

Nearly 3,000 people held noisy protests on Tuesday against India\'s approval of South Korean POSCO\'s plans to build a steel plant, underlying the problems that have delayed the mill for years.

Police said men, women and children marched to the site of the proposed $12 billion plant in Orissa waving placards saying POSCO\'s plans would disrupt their betel leaf plantations and forest-based livelihoods.

While the protests are not likely to force a reversal of the government approval given on Monday, they could make it difficult for authorities to begin acquiring land for the plant that has been a test case for India\'s investment climate.

POSCO go back,\" protesters shouted, according to witnesses.

\"Shame on Jairam Ramesh, shame on Naveen Patnaik,\" they shouted, referring to the environment minister and the state\'s chief minister respectively.

India, one of the world\'s fastest growing major economies, needs foreign capital to boost infrastructure and bolster annual economic growth of nearly 9 percent. But projects have brought protests from poor farmers in the densely populated country.

The ruling Congress party is keen to win over farmers in the run-up to important state elections this year and in federal polls in 2014.

Why should we give up our lands when we are able to manage our families by farming? If the government wants to acquire land, it will have to kill us,\" said 65-year-old farmer Duryodhan Pradhan.

POSCO signed the agreement for the Orissa mill in 2005 and it was scheduled to begin production by the end of 2011, but protests, environmental worries and litigation over a related mining concession have delayed the project. [ID:nSGE70U07F


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