POSCO protests: Locals resort to use of crude bombs

UP IN ARMS: Villagers supporting the POSCO steel plant project attacked anti-POSCO supporters.

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Jagatsinghpur (Orissa): In the ongoing POSCO controversy in Orissa three platoons of police have been brought in after 6 people were injured in clashes over the steel giant’s proposed project at Jagatsinghpur on Thursday. It is the second such incident in less than a week’s time.

The conflict at Jagatsinghpur has reached a new level with crude bombs, arson, and opens fighting becoming a part of the protests.

Villagers supporting the POSCO steel plant project attacked anti-POSCO supporters blocking a road on Friday injuring at least six people.

Anti-POSCO agitators have temporarily retreated to their villages but with a warning that they will return soon.

“We will not leave our protest at any cost — no matter what happens," says an anti-POSCO supporter.

Voices supporting POSCO have grown dramatically in the last month. Villagers claim that a local BJP MLA Damodar Raut is to be blamed for that. The villagers allege that Raut was entrusted with the task of raising support for the project by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik says that tension in Posco is being handled by the administration. "It is the job of the administration to keep peace and they are doing it," he says.

No police personnel were present at the site of the protests. The police admit that they weren't prepared.

Additional SP Jagatsinghpur, Rabi Narayan Patra, says, “How would we know that the clash would take place? We have only just heard of it and are preparing to go there."

But Orissa's Steel and Mines Minister Padmanabh Behera has said that the police just aren't needed at Jagatsinghpur.

He says, “More and more people are coming out in support of POSCO and soon they will take over the area. Police cannot go there. People will fight out their issue."

There are no reports of any deaths in the clashes over the POSCO project yet but with tension is likely to rise.