[Reader-list] Fwd: Update from POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) as on 19th April 2013

[Asit Das]

Dear Friends,

PPSS welcomes the verdict of Supreme court came yesterday (i.e. 18th April
2013)  on  the issues of mining in Niyamagiri hills of Odisha. The verdict
said that it’s upto the Gram Sabha (Village-level Assembly) to decide
whether to allow mining in Niyamgiri Hills by the Vedanta Group.The Supreme
Court has upheld the authority of Gram Sabha to control, manage and use the
mineral resources in Niyamagiri hills. This comes as a very welcome
judgment where community rights over mineral resources has been protected.
This is a victory of long-drawn struggle of the adivasis in Niyamagiri
hills and throughout the state.

It may be reminded that Gram Sabha of Dhinkia Panchayat of Jagatsinghpur
district in Odisha held on 18th October 2012 had passed a resolution
unanimously against the diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes.
With the spirit of the Supreme court judgement on Niyamagiri hill, the
state government should respect the decision of our Gram sabhha and scrap
the POSCO project outright.

I would also like to bring your attention to the latest Comptroller and
Auditor General (CAG) report. The CAG in its latest report, tabled in the
assembly has found the Odisha government guilty of extending large scale
undue benefits to steel major POSCO in allotment of a piece of land in the
state capital Bhubaneswar. The government disregarded all norms in
allotting the land with shameless favoritism.  While allotting the land,
zonal regulation was ignored and the land was gifted away at an abysmally
low premium. The CAG report is very scathing on it.

The CAG report said that the country arm of South Korean steel major
Posco-India had applied for allotment of a plot measuring 12,000 square
feet for its chairman-cum-managing director’s (CMD) residence-cum-guest
house in 2006. However, later it enhanced the requirement twice to 25,000
sq.ft. in April 2007 and later 2 acres for the same purpose. Various
committees, including committees appointed by Central Government, have
unearthed serious illegalities in POSCO’s other operations earlier. Many
more are still buried beneath as vested authorities try their best to hide
those and get away with it. While proofs are piling up, our people are
bewildered by a complete hijack of governance mechanism to patronize POSCO
and connive with the POSCO and harming our basic life and livelihood
sources as well as the interest of the larger society.

As the government is unwilling to play the ‘Rajdharm’ we are determined to
put up a peaceful-democratic fight against this unholy alliance between the
government and POSCO.

On April 12, 2013, The Left parties and various mass movements staged
demonstrations at Bhubaneswar demanding withdrawal of police force from the
proposed plant site area. Demonstrations were also held in various district
headquarters in response to a call by CPI to observe ‘All India Solidarity
Day’. [image: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/images/pixel.gif]
The
protestors held the placards saying "Posco Go Back" and "Stop Forcible Land
Acquisition".

As we have shared earlier a 12-member team consisting of human rights
activists, journalists, academicians, democratic rights and civil liberty
activists conducted a visit to our area on March 9, 2013  to take stock of
the situation after the March 2 bomb blast in which three of our frontline
activists died and one got seriously injured. The report of the fact
finding team brings into the fore another evidence of the state’s cruelty.
While releasing the report eminent legal luminary Justice Rajinder Sachar
was awestruck by the fact that three people got killed in a bomb explosion
and yet no inquiry was conducted into the incidence. ‘The incident was
ghastly and the action of the government is horrible’, said Justice Sachar.
That Committee in its report has demanded a high level judicial inquiry
into the incident. You can read the whole report in this link
http://www.scribd.com/doc/136178201/Fact-Finding-Report-Posco-Final

In a separate but bizarre development we have come to know, from media
reports, about POSCO’s attempt to influence a section media in its favour
by sponsoring a pleasure trip for some journalists to Pune and other such
places. But we firmly believe on the impartial character of our media
friends who will continue to expose the POSCO’s illegalitiesand the
government’s undue favor.



Attaching herewith an e-petition for your endorsement prepared by  an
organization SOLIDARITÉ based in France for your information. Here is the
petition (in French):
http://www.avaaz.org/fr/petition/Mettons_fin_au_projet_daccaparement_des_terres_de_la_societe_POSCO_en_Odisha_Inde/?cRguBeb.
And you can also find the article (in Frenc, English and Spanish) :
http://www.solidarite.asso.fr/Petition-against-landgrab-in-the

 Kindly forward this mail widely.



Hoping for Solidarity.



Prashant Paikaray

Spokesperson, POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti.

Mobile no - 09437571547

E- mail- prashantpaikaray at gmail.com