The land acquisition process for the South Korean steel company Posco at Gobindpur-Dhinkia area in Jagatsinghpur would be completed within a week, revealed district Collector Satya Kumar Mallick on Sunday.
Following the arrest of Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti (PPSS) president Abhay Sahoo by Jagatsinghpur police at the airport here on Saturday morning, the district administration became hopeful to acquire the land easily.
“Out of a total of 2,700 acres of land to be allotted to Posco, the district administration has already acquired around 2,500 acres so far and after getting the rest 200 acres, the whole process would come to an end,” Mallick informed.
“Now, the acquisition process is on. It will be completed within a week after demolishing a few betel vineyards and cutting trees from the demarcated area,” said the District Collector. The administration would acquire the rest land from Tuesday, he disclosed.
Meanwhile, the pro-Posco villagers, who were living at the company’s transit camps for the last six years, would return to Patnagarh, their native village, very soon. They had been dislocated from their village and kept in the transit colony after they agreed to cede their land to Posco.
However, because of the problems in the getting land in the anti-Posco bastion, which includes their village, the Government had decided to skip the area.
These villagers had been demanding to return to their native place since then. After long delays, finally, the Government decided to repatriate these villagers to native village.
“It’s is a matter of great pleasure that we are going to return to our village very soon. We will again start our normal life there,” said a person staying in the transit camp.
In a recent development, the district administration has started development works like reconstruction of roads and provision of drinking water facilities at Gobindpur-Dhinkia area to woo the local people.