A ten years struggle defending the land against a steel plant project by South Korean POSCO company paid off. On 8 April 2016 the company announced the end of the project for its long environmental litigation in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and for the people's opposition.

Eleven years before (22 May 2005), the South Korean Pohang Steel Company (POSCO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Odisha. The state authorities had committed that it would facilitate various approvals for setting up a steel plant, a captive power plant, a port and many other activities for the company. It had also assured the company that it would keep the area free of encumbrances. However, POSCO’s projects have met with stiff on-the-ground resistance, legal tussles related to environmental approvals and grant of leases. Issues around land acquisition, forest rights, impact assessment, violence, compensations, conditions of rehabilitation areas were of great concern. Attempts by the government to seize or buy peasants' land for the POSCO project, provoked protests from local residents and led to increasingly bitter clashes with the police. Activists were arrested. Some people were killed in clashes with contractors. Finally the government acquired 2,700 acres between 2012 and early 2015. A Black Day on June 22 2015 was organized by the anti-POSCO people’s movement’ (or PPSS). It marked the tenth anniversary of the signature of the MOU. The struggle continued not only asking for the withdrawal of the project, which was frozen so far, but also the annulment of the charges against more than 200 villagers. The cultivation of betel vines by the local population allows them to survive and also defend the land from POSCO and governmental appropriation.

The project construction was halted since 2006 but in 2012 it seemed it might start again. However, in a jolt to South Korean steel giant, a UN Human Rights panel on 1st October 2013 asked it to immediately halt the mega steel-to-port plant project alleging possible displacement of thousands of people and disruption in their livelihoods. The project threatened to displace over 22,000 people in the Jagatsinghpur District, and disrupt the livelihoods of many thousands more in the surrounding area. Protests against land acquisition for POSCO plant, coupled with regulatory hurdles kept still the proposed plant, billed as the the largest FDI in India.  The enormous plant envisaged 12 million tons of steel upon reaching full capacity. The company would also construct a new port at Jatadhari. The budget was Rs 50,000 crore, equivalent to 10 billion USD.Ten years ago (22 May 2005), the South Korean Pohang Steel Company (POSCO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Odisha. The state authorities had committed that it would facilitate various approvals for setting up a steel plant, a captive power plant, a port and many other activities for the company. It had also assured the company that it would keep the area free of encumbrances. However, POSCO’s projects have met with stiff on-the-ground resistance, legal tussles related to environmental approvals and grant of leases. A multiple administrative review committees were also set up to assess the project’s impacts. It is now a publicly known fact that the project has been closely monitored by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Issues around land acquisition, forest rights, impact assessment, violence, compensations, conditions in rehabilitation areas are of great concern. Attempts by the Government to seize or buy peasants' land for the POSCO project, provoked protests from local residents and led to increasingly bitter clashes with the Police. Activists have been arrested. Some people have been killed in clashes with contractors. And finally the government acquired 2,700 acres between 2012 and early 2015. The Black Day on June 22 2015 was organized by the anti-POSCO people’s movement’ (or PPSS). It marked the tenth anniversary of the signature of the MOU. The struggle continued not only asking for the withdrawal of the project, which has been frozen so far, but also the annulment of the charges against more than 200 villagers. The cultivation of betel vines by the local population allows them to survive and also defend the land from POSCO and governmental appropriation.

 UPDATE 8th April 2016: Posco announced the scrap of the project during a National Green Tribunal hearing this Friday 8th April, for the many problems in getting subsequent environment and forest clearances, as well as for the protests from locals and different political parties over displacement, water and captive port issues

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