Bhubaneswar: Rejecting allegations of forcible land acquisition and violation of Forest Rights Acts at Posco's proposed plant site villages in Orissa, the state government on Thursday claimed that it was making progress at the ground level.
"There is no violation of any law for the Posco project," Chief Secretary B K Patnaik told reporters in the face of allegations made by political parties and social activists.
Stating that the ground work had started in over 1,800 acre of land acquired so far in Gada Kujang and Nuagaon gram panchayats near Paradip, the chief secretary said the state government would abide by the law and court verdicts in this regard, if any.
The state government which announced temporary suspension of land acquisition work in the mid way due to stiff opposition from the people, had meanwhile started negotiating with the agitating people to convince them how the Posco project would benefit them.
"The district administration of Jagatsinghpur is in the job of negotiating with the local people for carrying forward the suspended land acquisition work," Patnaik said about 3700 acre of land was required for setting up the Rs 52,000 crore plant.
To a question on the delay of MoU renewal with the South Korean steel major, Patnaik said, "Posco-India and different line departments have given their views on the MoU. We will do it soon."
The chief secretary was optimistic about renewal of the MoU by end of this month.
Patnaik, however, avoided question on the controversial swapping clause in the lapsed MoU. "The state government has been examining the issue," he said, adding that the Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and others have suggested to avoid the iron ore export provision in the revised MoU.
Sources, however, said that final decision on the swapping clause would be taken by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
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