A woman protests against the demolition of her betel vineyard at the Posco project site. Telegraph picture

Paradip, July 3: The Jagatsinghpur district administration today overcame opposition and demolished 35 betel vineyards at the Posco project site. Officials said only 20 acres remain to be acquired for the mega steel project.

“An estimated 2,680 acres have been acquired till end of work today. About 40 betel vineyards remain on a 20-acre plot. The final phase of land acquisition will come to an end in a day or two,” said Paradip additional district magistrate Surajit Das.

The project needs 2,700 acres with Posco scaling down its requirement from 4,004 acres earlier. “The dismantling process, which has often been halted following opposition from landowners, is nearing its end. According to our estimates, about 20 acres remain to be acquired to meet Posco’s needs,” said Das.

After the betel vineyards are demolished, work on erecting the boundary of the project will begin. The boundary line has been drawn and in some parts, trenches have already been dug for the wall.

After a two-day stand-off due to people’s protests, officials of the district administration — together with the state-run Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) and Posco — dismantled 35 betel vineyard plots and acquired about 30 acres for the steel project.

Although the protesters alleged that the police had used physical force against them, the district administration described it as minimal. “We used minimal force against the protesters,” said Das.

The protests took place in the forest area of Gobindpur within the Posco project site. Some of the villagers alleged that cops had used physical force to carry on with the demolition drive despite their protests. Benu Das, one of the protesters, said: “I protested and refused to give in. The policemen beat me up and pulled me away from the betel vines.”

However, special land acquisition officer Sarat Kumar Purohit said: “We managed to tide over the landowners’ protest by reaching a consensus with them. Thirty-five betel vineyards on about 30 acres were dismantled today and Rs 72 lakh compensation was paid to the land-losers. Besides two land owners, the rest of the betel vines owners voluntarily gave away their plots.”