In a major turn of events, the United Action Committee (UAC), a pro-Posco forum that was hitherto supporting the proposed `52,000-crore steel plant project, on Thursday turned hostile and obstructed land acquisition process, forcing the administration to arrest at least 32 UAC members.
The arrested persons, among others, included UAC president Anadi Rout.
“The UAC members were arrested after all our effort to persuade them to clear the road blockade at Gada-Kujanga failed,” additional superintendent of police (Paradip) S.K. Das said.
Unlike the first day on Wednesday which saw 11 people peacefully handing over their agricultural land to district administration and getting their compensation amount, the second saw the UAC members blockading the entry point to Gada-Kujanga, a part of the project site, to prevent officials from entering the area.
The arrested persons, who were released a few hours later, according to latest reports, were holding a meeting at Kunjabihari temple at Gada-Kujanga village finalise their next course of action.
“It seems that Orissa government has got more love for private companies than its own people. It does not hesitate to use brute police force and follow arm-twisting method to grand agricultural land of poor farmers in our area,” UAC secretary Nirbhaya Samantaray said.
Sources said although Jagatsinghpur district administration sent out a feeler to the UAC members in the evening to work out a compromise formula, the latter rejected it.
“Despite our cooperation since the beginning, the district administration never took us into confidence and unilaterally went for land acquisition from Wednesday. This is a clear case of betrayal. Without fulfilling our demands, they launched the acquisition process and we would give a befitting reply to it,” said Mr Rout.