Extending their solidarity to Nuagaon villagers, well-known as Posco supporters, the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) on Monday described demolition of 180-metre-long boundary wall by them on Sunday as ‘true spirit of resistance’ while terming the construction as ‘completely illegal’.
In a Press release, PPSS spokesperson Prashant Paikray said, “Posco constructed the illegal boundary wall ignoring the case that was filed at National Green Tribunal. The villagers also destroyed Posco’s public relation camp office and the IDCO office at Nuagaon. They have decided not to allow anyone from Posco, district administration or the police to enter into their village. They have even erected a bamboo gate at the entrance to Nuagaon to prevent their entry from today. We are thankful and grateful to the villagers that they did everything peacefully in the true spirit of the anti-Posco resistance.”
Stating that the South Korean company has made repeated promises to provide compensation to the people in the name of corporate social responsibility (CSR), Paikaray said the Posco made these promises to woo the Nuagaon villagers. “Few of them had been trapped and misguided by these empty promises. Now they have realized that the single agenda of Posco is to acquire their fertile agricultural land and construct the boundary wall. Besides, this has hampered the peace and brotherhood in the area by luring a few youths to work for the project.”
The PPSS apprehending that they (Posco, district administration and the police) might plan to divide them (the villagers) and implicate them in false cases, the PPSS called upon the people to stand united and continue peaceful resistance against the project.