Posco supporters stall work over renewal of MoU

PARADIP: The district administration felled around 1,000 trees at Nuagaon for the proposed Posco project on Wednesday. Things, however, were not the same at Gadakujang panchayat, where villagers prevented officials from entering the area seeking fulfillment of their six demands. The delay in renewal of the MoU between the State Government and Posco and transfer of the RDC gave rise to doubts, said Gadakujang Sarpanch Nakula Sahu. The villagers further alleged non-payment of daily wages to unemployed youths provided with job cards by a construction agency. Project Director (Rehabilitation and Resettlement) Surjeet Das tried to convince the Posco supporters that a meeting would be convened at the panchayat office to resolve their problems, but they rejected the proposal. The villagers argued that the officials had chopped nearly a lakh trees at the Posco site though the MoU is yet to be  renewed. “We cannot allow our trees to perish when the fate of the project  is uncertain,” said Dhirendra Palai, working president of the United Action Committee.The agitation by Posco supporters affected construction work and enumeration of betel vine labourers at Polang and Noliasahi, said a revenue officer. “The agitation at Gadakujang did not affect work at Naugaon where nearly 1,200 trees were felled,” said Special Land Acquisition Officer Nrunsingh Sahu.