Bhubaneswar: Rebuffed by villagers at the proposed POSCO steel project site in her efforts to drum up support against it, social activist Medha Patkar today termed the South Korean steel major's venture as illegal and unconstitutional and demanded its cancellation.

"The state government has violated all laws and human rights norms to get the POSCO project implemented near Paradip," Patkar, who was cold shouldered by the villagers of the site in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district during the past two days, told newsmen here. Accusing the Orissa government of imposing industry in a criminal way by suppressing the voice of the mass, she extended the support of her National Alliance of People Movement to POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) opposing the project.

Referring to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's claim that the POSCO project would generate a lot of revenue and employment, Patekar said the village communities would lose their source of livelihood, age old agriculture and pisiculture. "The entire chunk of 4004 acre identified for the plant was cultivable or covered with good number of trees."

"Gram Sabha must be consulted for equitable and sustainable development. Alternative plans with agriculture, pisiculture and labour intensive industrialisation should come up in the area with public-private-partnership mode," she said.

Source : PTI