November 22, 2008

POSCO supporters call off stir

SNS reported that the supporters of POSCO project from Govindpur, who had been staging dharna in front of Kujanga police station, have called off their protest following certain assurances by the district administration.

The district administration urged upon the villagers to call off the stir and assured that they would be provided adequate protection within a week. The administration also promised to arrest the accused persons in the sensational palm chopping of Mr Natbar Khatua incident.

It may be noted that the villagers had been demonstrating protesting police inaction and demanding justice and protection. They had warned that the stir would be intensified further in case the administration does not pay any heed to their demands.

The agitators allege that police have played a very inactive role in the project area and cited the example of Mr Khatua palm chopping case, the accused of which incident are still moving freely. They said that tension still prevails at Govindpur village for some days.

Meanwhile, the project supporters alleged that the morale of anti POSCO activists have got a fillip after they could pressurize the administration for the withdrawal of police force from the village by detaining senior police officers for hours.