Bhubaneswar: An official of steel major Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO) and a South Korean journalist were detained for about an hour in an Orissa village where the company proposes to set up a steel plant, a police official said on Friday.
The two had gone on Thursday to the proposed plant site near Dhinkia village, around 110 km from Bhubaneswar, a senior police official said.
"Hundreds of anti-POSCO activists mostly from the Dhinkia village spotted them and forcibly brought them to their village. They detained them for about an hour," Additional District Police Chief Rabinartayan Patra said.
POSCO-India, the Indian subsidiary of the fourth largest steel manufacturer in the world, is setting up a steel plant in the state's Jagatsinghpur district by 2016 with an estimated investment of $12 billion.
Though the deal with the Orissa government, considered to be one of the largest foreign direct investments in India, was signed in June 2005, there has not been any significant progress on the project due to local opposition.
On hearing of the detention of the two people, police personnel rushed to the village and rescued them. Patra said the two landed into trouble as they had entered the area without prior intimation.
"We had earlier told them not to enter into the region without intimating us but they did not listen," Patra added.
Patra added that the POSCO official has not lodged any complaint with the police.
Thousands of people from around six villages in the area, including Dhinkia, are opposing the project as they say that it will not only displace them but also ruin their betel leaf farming.
POSCO, however, claims the plant proposes to generate direct employment for around 13,000 people and indirect jobs for 35,000 others.
Comments
0 comment