Villagers stall construction work near Posco project site. Telegraph picture

Paradip, Aug. 20: Stuck in the web of resistance, all project-related work came to a grinding halt in the proposed Posco project area today.

Hundreds of protesters, including women, stalled road construction work sparking off tension in and around the project villages.

Similar resistance was on display in Gadakujang with villagers blocking the police and officials from gaining entry into the villages to carry forward project work.

Tension mounted near the road construction site as local residents, mainly from Dhinkia gram panchayat, laid siege to the construction site and stopped resumption of the new road project.

The road that is being planned as an alternative link to the steel project site starts from the southern end of the Indian Oil Corporation Limited’s Oil Refinery project near Paradip. The proposed road that would pass through troubled Dhinkia would establish direct road linkage of project villages with the nearby Paradip port town.

Braving intermittent rain, angry villagers walked 3km to resist the road construction work. As the private company entrusted to execute the road project was getting ready with excavator machines to begin preliminary road work, the protesters threw a spanner. The agitation, which was staged under the banner of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samity, continued from dawn to dusk.

Officials and workers of the construction firm later moved away from the site without being able to do any work. Though tension prevailed at the site, police and officials stayed away from the spot.

“Our opposition to the steel project would continue till the project is relocated from this rich agriculture belt. We will not allow the company to lay an alternative road. People from all the three gram panchayats under the project are now opposing it,” said Abhaya Sahu, president of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti.

“Though police personnel did not rush to the road project spot, we are keeping a close watch on the situation. No untoward incident was reported during people’s protest against the road project near Paradip”, said sub-divisional police officer Shantanu Kumar Das.

Simultaneous protest continued in Gadakujang and Nuagaon areas paralysing project work. Several rounds of talks between the villagers and the authorities failed to break the ice. Stir against the project work is apparently gathering steam largely due to indecisiveness on part of the government agencies.

“The administration is sensitive towards demands of the people. That’s why we have suspended project-related work. The Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development Advisory Committee meeting would be held shortly to address the genuine demands of the people,” project director (rehabilitation and resettlement) Sujeet Das said.