Paradip / Bhubaneswar, June 17: Prominent social activist Swami Agnivesh joined the protest against the proposed Posco steel plant today even as land acquisition at the site near Paradip remained suspended due to heavy rain.

Taking part in a dharna against Posco near the state assembly, Swami Agnivesh said: “Agricultural land should not be acquired forcibly by the state government on behalf of multi-nationals for setting up mega projects. The state government has no right to take over farmers’ land against their wishes.” Agnivesh is scheduled to visit the project area tomorrow to express solidarity with the agitators.

Five political parties — CPI, CPM, Forward Bloc, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party — also staged a demonstration in front of Raj Bhavan to protest against the “forcible” land acquisition at the site. The activists of these five parties also staged a road blockade at Rajmahal Square today.

At the proposed Posco site, the land acquisition exercise could not begin due to heavy rain. “We stopped the exercise today because of the weather condition. The work will resume on Saturday if the weather permits,” Paradip additional district magistrate Saroj Katna Choudhury told The Telegraph.

Interestingly, schoolchildren skipped classes to join the anti-Posco movement braving the downpour. The land acquisition exercise had been suspended for five days for Raja festival and was scheduled to resume today.

The protestors continued to protest the drive with a human barricade along the Gobindpur border. A delegation of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders and members of civil society groups today visited the project area and pledged support to the resistance movement.

“We interacted with the people and found that the state government used force to acquire betel vines from unwilling farmers. Our party stands for peaceful industrialisation. NCP is strongly opposed to forcible acquisition of land for industry,” said Arun Dey, leader of the party. The NCP has been extending outside support to the Naveen Patnaik government.

On the backfoot after last week’s resistance by land-owners from Drinkia gram panchayat, the authorities were thinking in terms of pulling down betel vines of those wiling to cooperate with the administration, said sources adding that the authorities were acting with caution.

“No force would be applied on unwilling betel-vine growers. In the past also, there has been no forcible land acquisition as is being alleged by those opposing the Posco project,” said Choudhury.

While the pro-Posco United Action Committee (UAC) members expressed apprehension about those opposing the project persecuting them, the charge was labelled by the anti-plant Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) as a publicity gimmick.

“Claims in this regard by the administration and others is nothing but a ploy to deflect public criticism. All the families are opposing the project tooth and nail as they are not in mood to hand over the betel vineyards,” said PPSS president Abhaya Sahu.

The UAC has renewed its demand for involving families living in Gadabagapur Posco transit colony in the land acquisition process. “It’s high time that the 52 families living in the transit colony after being ostracised by opponents of the project were brought back to their native place in Gobindpur to take part in land acquisition exercise,” said UAC president Anadi Charan Rout.