Utkal Bharat president Kharabela Swain on Thursday described as “highly motivated” the United Nations (UN) expert committee’s recent report and its suggestion to South Korean steel giant Posco to suspend its Odisha project over the issue of threat to human rights and livelihoods of 22,000 people.
“The report published by the International Human Rights Clinic at New York University's School of law and the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is not based on facts and ground reality. Neither there are any forestlands nor are any tribals staying at the proposed Posco project site. All the acquired lands for the project belong to Government. Is it an offence to acquire Government landIJ Hence, this report is arbitrary and extremely motivated. The report was published on the basis of recommendations by certain NGOs and some Western countries with malafide intention,” alleged Swain.
He also came down heavily on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for not strongly opposing the report and even for not visiting the project site since last nine years.
Some Western countries never want developing countries like India to be developed. They used the UN and NGOs to defame India on the pretext of human rights violations. For instance, certain NGOs had used foreign funds received for social and religious purposes to fuel the protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu violating foreign exchange regulatory rules, said Swain, adding that in Odisha the economic status of anti-Posco activists has increased in a mindboggling manner.