The land acquisition for the proposed mega steel project of Posco in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district has been postponed following stiff resistance from villagers supporting as well as opposing the venture.

The State Government had to stop the land acquisition work on Friday after the villagers supporting the venture protested, demanding that the process be completely stopped till their six-point demands are met.

As many as 33 members of the United Action Committee (UAC), the group supporting the project, were arrested on Thursday when they blocked the entry of officials engaged in the land acquisition work. On Sunday, a large number of villagers supporting the UAC organised a rally in the area earmarked for the project reiterating their demands.

Meanwhile, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti , the outfit that has been strongly opposing land acquisition for the project since 2005, has also decided to intensify its agitation in the coming days.

The Samiti has been demanding that the Government not acquire any land till the authorities organised Palli Sabha meetings in various villages to take the consent of the thousands of families that were to lose their land and livelihood sources.

The agitating villagers, who had staged a protest on May 18 when the authorities resumed land acquisition, have termed the Government action “illegal”.

The land acquisition work had shown little progress during the three days when administration officials entered the area amid heavy police presence to carry out the exercise. While the 1.52 acres of forest land was acquired by demolishing betel vineyards on May 18, it dropped to 72 decimals on May 19 and .27 acres on May 20.

In another development, the High Court has issued notices to the State Government and others on a petition challenging land acquisition for the project. The petition will come up for further hearing on May 25.

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