Work starts at Posco site

After a day's halt, work at the proposed Posco steel plant site in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district began today with people's cooperation, official sources said. “There is no tension in the area and no police force had been deployed,” the Paradip additional district magistrate Mr Surjeet Das, said. Work like tree felling, which had resumed on Saturday after remaining suspended for 25 days, was halted yesterday on account of it being a Sunday and for other related preparatory operations, the sources said. Meanwhile, in anticipation of forcible removal of bamboo gates erected by Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) in Gobindpur panchayat, anti-Posco activists were maintaining a strict vigil in the area. A dharna was also on at Nuagaon by Bhitamati Surakshya Manch (VSM) in support of their charter of demands which included enhanced compensation to land losers.