Uttan, another Nandigram?

Author: HS D'Lima
Mumbai’s Catholics are very worried on two counts. One pertains to the planned Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the Gorai, Manori, Uttan belt.
Mumbai’s Catholics are very worried on two counts. One pertains to the planned Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the Gorai, Manori, Uttan belt. The second has to do with the acquisition of the Sahar village by the Mumbai International Airports Ltd (MIAL).The residents of the proposed SEZ are mainly East Indian Christians. They are farmers and fishermen. The residents of Gorai have already suffered much due to the activities of Esselworld, which has caused massive ecological damage.Now, the same group intends setting up a leisure and entertainment SEZ in this area, for the hedonistic rich and powerful, at the cost of the lives of the residents. If the Maharashtra government fails to see the writing on the wall, the situation in Gorai and Sahar could turn worse than Nandigram.

POSCO In Paradip & An Echo Of Nandigram

Manoranjan Mohanty
Erasama block near Paradip that had suffered nearly ten thousand deaths in the 1999 supercyclone is in the news again awaiting another Nandigram-like onslaught. The pattern of state-aided assault by one group mobilised against a people agitating in defence of their land, natural resources and environment, is again swiftly unfolding itself, this time in Orissa over the South Korean company, POSCO’s steel project in the same cyclone-affected region, once again with enormous cost. Unless the forces of peace and human rights intervene another round of bloodshed may be in the offing. On 29 November as the daily mass sit-in by the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) in a village called Balitutha entered its sixtieth day a large mob arrived in procession and attacked the demonstrators brutally. Five bombs were hurled at them injuring a number of people. Police put it at 17 while the PPSS says 40 were injured, some seriously.Having failed to persuade the Orissa government to reconsider the decision on the project the PPSS had started the mass sit-in at the entry point to the three villages whose inhabitants faced displacement by the construction of the steel plant.Mob attacksThey had stopped allowing vehicles belonging to the police, POSCO and the administration while allowing other trade and communication activities to go on. After a week long programme of big rallies at Balitutha the PPSS had decided to have groups of 100 to 200 men and women to be present there daily to carry on the agitation. They were attacked by the mob while the Orissa armed police stood by at a short distance as has been confirmed by several civil liberty teams which have visited the scene since. Citing the incident as a clash between pro-POSCO and anti-POSCO people and therefore a law and order problem some sixteen platoons, which had camped nearby, moved into the area where they had so far been prevented by the agitators. The police is now stationed in the Nuagaon and Gadakujanga panchayats ~ two of the three to be taken over for the project. The other one, Dhinkia panchayat where the PPSS has its stronghold remains determined to resist. The large single-village panchayat has erected gates to monitor entry points and has remained united during the agitation against the project which has continued for more than a year. Dhinkia village is now encircled by armed police where some 12,000 people are denied access to basic services. The Orissa government has said that the police was deployed there to prevent ‘Maoists’ from entering the area. This has been the usual ploy to resort to indiscriminate repression by the state all over the country.In fact, the PPSS is a collective movement of local people from a wide range of parties and groups opposed to the project and is led by the CPI state secretariat member Abhay Sahoo. The local Congress too is part of the resistance movement which has remained peaceful throughout despite much provocation. As in Nandigram the ruling BJD organised a group of villagers and a large number of goondas from outside to launch the attack and ‘occupy’ the struggling villages and have indeed succeeded in ‘capturing’ two panchayats ~ Nuagaon and Gadakujanga. Operation Dhinkia is on the cards and what form it will take is unpredictable. But in view of the determined opposition by the villagers one cannot rule out violent confrontation. The opposition to the POSCO project was also spearheaded by two sarvoday-oriented groups ~ Rashtriya Yuva Sangathan and the Nav Nirman Samiti. They had been actively engaged in many action programmes of non-violent protest during the past two years and even before in the post-cyclone reconstruction of Erasama.On 4 December Yuva Sangathan convener Biswajit started an indefinite fast at Balitutha. On 5 December when a peace delegation led by the well-known poet Shailaja Rabi visited him they were again attacked by a mob of over 50 people.The police forcibly evicted Biswajit and the members of the delegation and moved them to Jagatsinghpur where the Yuva Sangathan leader continues his fast even now protesting against the violent attack on the peaceful struggle. CompensationAt a press conference on 8 December the former Lok Sabha Speaker Rabi Ray condemned the attacks and called upon the Orissa government to scrap the mega steel project together with its SEZ and the captive port proposals. The first ever “talks” between some selected villagers and the administration and the POSCO officials took place on 6 December to discuss compensation and rehabilitation plans. The local BJD MLA Damodar Raut who was earlier dropped by the Chief Minister reportedly for not fully supporting the project has become very active to make up and earn the CM’s favour. Raut has announced that POSCO had agreed to raise the compensation for each household from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. What Chomsky had called ‘manufacturing consent’ is in full swing with POSCO announcing scholarships for students, taking journalists to Korea for tour and building a paid cadre of ‘project promoters’. Bharat Jan Andolan leader B D Sharma encountered a group of the latter after a press conference on 7 December in Bhubaneswar. (To be concluded)(Formerly of Delhi University, the writer is currently Durgabai Deshmukh Professor at the Council for Social Development.)

Abandon SEZ plans: Arundhati Roy

KOLKATA: Writer and social activist Arundhati Roy has travelled to different parts of the country, especially to troubled zones, to feel the pulse of the people. "People across the country have begun to realize that they have to fight for their rights or risk losing everything. The fight is on in Orissa, in Chhattisgarh, in Kashmir, in the North-East and, here in Nandigram, where people have waged a spectacular struggle. I salute them." She said: "The real problem is the policies that the Bengal government is pursuing. If it does not abandon plans for building SEZs, then bloodshed is certain, if not in Nandigram, then elsewhere." Roy claimed that SEZs will turn the country into a police state. "The government will have to decide how many dead bodies per SEZ it wants. How many will be acceptable to this great democracy?" "There is a notion outside West Bengal that Trinamul and Maoists have captured land from the Marxists and now Marxists have regained their land. When I was there at Sonachura in June, the place seemed to be under siege by the police and the ‘cadre’ police’. People don’t want police there and also don’t believe in the chief minister’s assurances." Criticising chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for okaying the Dow Chemical proposal to set up the chemical hub, she said: "He is trying to show international investors that there is no resistance against him. Otherwise, investors will go away. The government cannot tolerate this." She says the CM is a poor scriptwriter. "Whether it is Nandigram or Rizwan or Taslima, his scripts have been crude, unsubtle, far too easy to see through." The writer added: "CPM is in power for over three decades and so it has absolute control over every institution. From the panchayat member to the roadside cigarette seller, all bow to them."

Anti-POSCO activists attacked

NDTV Correspondent
Friday, November 30, 2007 (Bhubaneshwar)
As Anti-POSCO activists from all over the State are protesting in Bhubaneshwar, tension in Orissa is building over the POSCO steel plant - one of India's biggest foreign direct investment projects. Last evening at least 17 people were injured when supporters of a local MLA, armed with weapons and crude bombs attacked the members of anti-POSCO group near the proposed site for the steel plant. The attackers reportedly wanted the anti-Posco group to vacate the land which the steel giant has still not been able to take over.The police later intervened and now scores of police are in the area as tension persists.Activists involved in anti-displacement movements across Orissa are on a protest dharna in Bhubaneswar against the planned attack on the anti-POSCO protestors on Thursday.A number of intellectuals and farmer leaders too have joined the protest. They have condemned the attack and described it as State government-sponsored violence. On Thursday evening over 200 supporters of POSCO project armed with lethal weapons and crude bombs attacked the members of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti near Balitutth. They set the protestors' camp office on fire. In the clash that followed 17 people including 5 women were injured. The police and the district administration, who were aware of the mounting tension intervened only after the clashes took place. Now three platoons of police have been deployed in the area.

POSCO going the Nandigram way?

CNN-IBN
Jajati Karan /
Bhubaneswar: In Orissa, battles continue to rage on between pro-POSCO and anti-POSCO activists. The latest clashes have left many people dead. But the state government continues to be wary of sending in police to crack down on the violence.
They are the warring camps of Jagatsinghpur. Villagers from the same district in Orissa with very different opinions on the proposed POSCO steel plant. And their battle is getting bloody.
Ten people were killed in clashes between pro-POSCO and anti-POSCO villagers on Sunday. Two of them are critically wounded. And both sides say the fighting will only get worse.
POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti Chairman Abhaya Sahoo said, "I warn the government to soon stop initiating this indirect war by using local anti social elements against us. Otherwise it will soon take the turn of another Kalinganagar and Nandigram like violence."
While pro-POSCO supporter Raghunath Sarangi says, “POSCO will give employment to our children. These outsiders are unnecessarily creating trouble here. We will throw them out and will allow POSCO to be established here."

Villagers against the South Korean steel plant say the Orissa government has been instigating villagers through its local political leaders for a month now urging them to speak out for the Rs 51,000 crore project.
Supporters of the plant have come together under local BJD MLA Damodar Rout. But the state government is doing little to guard against violence. Police have not entered the disputed site for over two years.
Steel and Mines Minister Padmanabh Behera says, “Soon the POSCO supporters will outnumber the people who are opposing the steel plant and the problem will automatically end. We are not sending police there since that might lead to more violence."
From the reactions of the Orissa government it seems, that the recent violence at the POSCO site is just not enough to initiate any police action.
Perhaps they are waiting for another Nandigram to happen before any action could be taken.