project reckoned as the country's biggest FDI investment.
Though the South Korean company signed an MOU with the government on June 22, 2005, the land acquisition process is yet to take off. The biggest stumbling block has been the popular agitation under the aegis of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti which is hell bent on driving out the company from the area.
The project area comprising three panchayats of Jagatsinghpur district has witnessed a series of violent incidents, the latest taking lace on June 20 when supporters and opponents of the project clashed at Gobindpur village resulting in the death of one person and injuries to five others. This clash was preceded by several others in which scores of people have sustained injuries.
The company needs over 4000 acres of land, mostly forest land on which the locals have been raising betel vines, coconut and recap nut trees besides engaging in prawn culture. They are not willing to exchange this for anything else.
The government having burnt its fingers in Kalinga Nagar remains wary of taking drastic coercive action against the agitators who have become especially emboldened in the wake of their successful violation of prohibitory orders at the Balitutha bridge on April 1 when they held a rally in the area.
One can safely assume that POSCO's patience is wearing thin with each passing day though the company continues to sick to the project having already made huge investments. But what is happening in the POSCO belt is certain to send a wrong message to the industry as a healthy law and order situation is a pre-condition for the growth of the industry.
The embers are still smouldering in Kalinga Nagar where the Tatas, another industrial giant, are putting up their project. In the wake of the police firing at Kalinga Nagar over a year ago, the tribals had launched a massive agitation whose intensity signed the government. Though the momentum of the agitation has slowed down during the interim with the government cleverly dividing the tribals, occasional violence is still being reported. It will take only the slightest provocation to stir the Kalinga Nagar cauldron. No wonder industries in the area remain perennially worried about their future.
A flashpoint also seems to be emerging in Keonjhar where the Mittals are trying to put up a mega steel project almost matching the POSCO who happen to be their international rivals. Land again is a major issue here with the locals up in arms. It may not be long before this agitation acquires the dimensions of the protest movement against POSCO in Jagatsinghpur.
Industries also have other complaints like lack of basic infrastructure like roads and rail communication but it is law and order which worries them the most. Unfortunately, the government so far has not been ale to inspire confidence among them thorough its actions. Unless that happens, Odisha's industrialisation process is unlikely to gather the kind of momentum the government expects it to.
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