Join human chain or pay fine

PARADIP: My father has forcibly sent me to watch the boundary to avoid the penalty fixed by anti-Posco activists, said a 12-year-old girl who is part of the human barricade on the outskirts of Gobindpur. She is among the 500 children, in the age group of 5 to 15, of the Bal Sangharsa Bahini which has formed by the Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti to protest the land acquisition process at Gobindpur and Dhinkia.The anti-Posco activists who intensified their agitation against the land acquisition at Gobindpur also issued a diktat to the villagers of Dhinkia and Gobindpur on the day. They threatened to impose a penalty of Rs 1,000 on the villagers not joining the human barricade. The PPSS has also asked the villagers, supporting Posco, to either join the protests or face ostracisation. The threat was issued at a meeting convened at Gobindpur village under Dhinkia panchayat on Thursday to discuss the future course of the agitation. Nearly 2,000 villagers, including Posco supporters, joined the human barricade at Gobindpur on Wednesday. The PPSS men form the inner ring of the human barricade, behind children and women, fearing attacks by police. Reminded of the ostracisation, the pro-Posco villagers of Gobindpur faced two years back, a villager said, “After being ostracised for two years I entered the village with my family by paying a fine Rs 5,000 and committing to abide by the dictates of the PPSS. Now we cannot afford to go against their fatwa”.  Secretary of United Action Committee, a pro-Posco outfit, Nirvay Samantray criticised the administration for not providing security to the pro-Posco villagers. Meanwhile, 20 platoons of force are stationed at Kujang, Balitutha,  Nuagaon  Paradip, Trilochanpur and other areas awaiting further instructions from the State Government to start the land acquisition operation at Gobindpur.