land acquisition for the Posco steel project near here was resumed on Monday. As many as 21 betel vines were dismantled as of now without any resistance and a total compensation of Rs 23 lakh was paid to the vine owners, official sources said.
Meanwhile, anti-Posco villagers of Dhinkia, Patna and Gobindpur took out a procession to Phulkhai temple at Dhinkia, where they held a meeting denouncing the resumption of the land acquisition drive.
However, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti leader Abhay Sahoo was away in Balangir district taking part in protests against the lower Suktel Irrigation Project there.
Jagatsinghpur Collector SK Mallick said, "We have restarted land acquisition involving dismantling of betel vines this morning. The villagers are cooperating in the work undertaken by the administration."
Two teams dismantled the betel vines of consenting farmers at Gobindpur village, Additional District Magistrate (Paradip) Surjeet Das said. The work, with the use of machines, was carried out smoothly in groups separately led by the tehsildars of Kujang and Ersama, he said.
Another team is making a survey of trees and horticultural plants in the area while four platoons of police force have been deployed to maintain law and order, he added.
Earlier, about 250 acres of land had been acquired before the drive was suspended on February 11 ahead of the Budget Session of the State Assembly. At that time, there was a nude protest by women at Dhinkia while a bomb blast led to the death of three persons.