Rain stalls land acquisition, NCP joins stir

PARADIP: Heavy rains stalled the land acquisition process that was to begin on Friday. However, there was enough activity at the ground zero with leaders of  Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) reaching Gobindpur to oppose the ‘forcible’ demolition of betel vines. The party had fought the last Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the BJD.While NCP urged the State Government to halt the process, social activists and  Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti (PPS) have demanded an inquiry into the list of villagers, who reportedly agreed to cede their land.Meanwhile, the administration was all prepared to resume the process after the five-day break following Raja. “Revenue officials were on reserve at Kujang tehsil to begin the land acquisition at Gobindpur, but it had to be cancelled at the last moment due to incessant rain. If weather  improves, the work will resume on Saturday,” said Kujang Tehsildar Basudev Pradhan.Seven medical teams and as many as 10 platoons of armed policemen were deployed at Gobindpur. Women, children and other villagers reached the outskirts to form a human barricade opposing the move.  Meanwhile, at a meeting of PPSS, its president Abhya Sahu, the NCP leaders and other activists resolved to continue with their opposition to the process.“Though Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had said that he believed in peaceful industrialisation of Orissa, mobilisation of police force belies his claims,” said NCP leader Arun Dey.The party alleged that out of the 500 betel vines demolished so far, there are no records for 300. This hints at defalcation of funds by the officials engaged in the process, they added. The PPSS further alleged that fake names were being included in the list for demolition of betel vines. Though Gunanidhi Rout of Gobindpur does not own land, he has been included in the list, an activist said. They want a committee to be formed to look into these allegations.