Bhubaneswar: Seeking a peaceful solution
to the dispute over implementation of Rs 52,000 crore
Posco-India project, Orissa Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik
today invited local MP and MLAs to a meeting on May 20,
official sources said.
"All the four MLAs and one MP of Jagatsinghpur
district have been invited to the meeting," a senior official
at the chief minister`s office (CMO) said.
Patnaik earlier in the day appealed to the agitating
people to respect law of the land.
The Chief Minister`s appeal came in the wake of the
Saturday`s incident where police cleared the road connecting
the POSCO`s proposed plant site villages by using force.
A large number of people were injured during the
operation as police opened rubber bullets, resorted to lathi
charge and lobbed tear gas shells on the people sitting in
dharna protesting the POSCO project.
This is said to be the first move by the state
government to politically resolve an issue relating to
implementation of any mega project, sources said adding that
the state government had so far signed MoUs with 81 companies
to set up industries here.
There were four MLAs (all belonging to the ruling BJD)
and one MP of CPI in Jagatsinghpur district.
Recently, the lone Lok Sabha MP Bibhu Prasad Tarai of
CPI was arrested by police while he was attempting to enter
Dhinkia village, the epicentre of anti-Posco agitation.
Tarai was arrested barely a few hours before the
police cracking down on the anti-Posco agitators at Balitutha
on May 15.
PTI
