Abhay Sahu

Bhubaneswar, May 11: The movement against South Korean steel-maker Posco’s Rs 52,000-crore project near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district received a major jolt today as Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti chief Abhay Sahu was arrested here on his way to Coimbatore.

Sahu, whose outfit has been opposing the eight- million-tonne project since an MoU was signed between the state government and Posco in June 2005, was picked up from Biju Patnaik airport by a team of Jagatsinghpur police. Later, he was taken to Kujang and remanded in judicial custody following rejection of his bail plea by a first-class judicial magistrate.

Sahu, who is in his 50s, is facing charges in as many as 59 cases, including the March 2 bomb blast at Patna village in which three persons were killed. His arrest comes on the heels of a Supreme Court judgment, which set aside Orissa High Court order quashing the state government’s decision of allotting iron ore prospecting licence to Posco in the Khandadhar hills of Sundergarh district.

While the apex court order has given Posco and the state government hope about acceleration of the project work, land acquisition continues at the site consisting of three gram panchayats near Paradip. The government has so far acquired around 2,500 acres of the 2,700 acres required for the state-of-the-art steel plant. Of this, 1,703 acres have been transferred to the company.

Admitting that Sahu was the biggest stumbling block to the project, the police said they had been keeping a close watch on the samiti leader and waiting for the right opportunity to arrest him. “We had received the information yesterday that he will leave the state in a day or two. His mobile phone was tracked and his whereabouts traced near Biju Patnaik airport,” said Jagatsinghpur superintendent of police Satyabrata Bhoi.

Earlier, the police had arrested Sahu thrice — in 2008, 2010 and 2011. He was last bailed out in September 2012. Samiti general secretary Sisir Kumar Mahapatra said Sahu had been implicated in false cases. “His arrest is a move to weaken the movement,” he said.

Samiti spokesperson Prashant Paikaray said Sahu’s arrest would further strengthen the movement against the Posco project. “There are other leaders, who will carry forward the movement. We will also engage in political mobilisation now,” he said.

Since the Posco project is India’s biggest foreign direct investment, even the Prime Minister’s Office is keen on its forward movement.

On the other hand, the South Koreans have been putting pressure both on the Centre and the state government to accelerate it.

In March, South Korean ambassador Lee Joon-Gyu met chief minister Naveen Patnaik to discuss the project’s fate.

In January, during a summit meeting in Agra, commerce minister Anand Sharma had assured the South Koreans of fast tracking the project.