Protesters burn copies of the FRA assurance report sent by the state government to the Centre and effigies of the Jagatsinghpur district collector in Patana village. Telegraph picture

Paradip/Bhubaneswar, April 15: As anti-Posco activists today burnt copies of state government’s latest report denying the presence of tribals and other traditional forest dwellers at the plant site, chief minister Naveen Patnaik decided to play safe.

Naveen said the government would examine Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s letter where he has drawn attention to the resolutions passed by some gram sabhas in the project area against the diversion of forestland for the Rs 52,000-crore project.

“The letter has been referred to the forest department. We are examining it and appropriate action will be taken,” Naveen said as the fate of the project appears to be hanging in the balance.

However, agriculture minister Damodar Rout asserted that there are neither forests nor tribals at the proposed Posco site.

“The Forest Conservation Act, 1980 showed there was a forest in the area but it was not based on facts. If the area was a forest, how were loans extended to the people for betel farming?” asked Rout adding that the Union environment and forest ministry should try to find out why the water level has gone down in the area.

Activists of the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), the outfit agitating against the proposed plant of the South Korean company, burnt copies of the government’s report at a rally at Patha village and demanded criminal proceedings against the Jagatsinghpur collector for misleading the government on the issue of Forest Rights Act (FRA).

“The collector has violated the provisions of Forest Rights Act by submitting a flawed report to the government. This invites prosecution under Section 7 of the FRA. He wilfully ignored the palli sabha resolutions adopted in Dhinikia and Gobindpur in February and maintained that people here had no rights over the forestland. Charges should be framed against him,” said PPSS chief Abhay Sahu addressing the rally.

Sahu said Ramesh had rejected the state government’s assurance report saying that palli sabha resolutions should not have been ignored and that such acts violate the spirit of the central legislation.

“Thus in the fitness of things, the collector and other officials should be booked on charges of violating Section 7 of FRA, 2006,” demanded the PPSS leader.

The agitators at Patana held placards and shouted slogans against the state government and the company. They also burnt effigies of the district collector and the local block development officer.

“We are staging a symbolic protest. The Union ministry has rejected the government’s report and accorded sanction to our palli sabha resolutions passed in February,” said Sisir Kumar Mahapatra, sarpanch of Dhinkia adding that now it was more than obvious that the chief minister was dancing to the tune of the Korean steel-maker.

Cautioning people that they had got only temporary relief due to Ramesh’s intervention, he alleged that the government was taking repressive measures and had recently arrested two PPSS activists.

Jagatsinghpur collector Narayan Chandra Jena, however, refuted the FRA violation charge.

“The matter is under scrutiny of both the state government and central ministry. The district officials are adhering to the FRA in letter and spirit,” he asserted.