Paradip (Orissa): Tension gripped the proposed Posco Steel plant site near here today after one of the six persons injured in a clash between supporters and opponents of the project died.

45-year-old Dulu Mandal was admitted to S C B Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack after the clash last night and he died early today, the police said.

Armed with sticks, sharp weapons and crude bombs, the activists faced each other at Gobindpur this morning. More than 150 police personnel were deployed at nearby Balithutha as tension mounted.

Anti-Posco activists dug up road linking Dhinkia village, the epicentre of the agitation, to prevent police entry. Six persons were injured in a clash at Gobindpur near here between supporters and opponents of POSCO's proposed steel project last night.

The clash took place when a group of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti activists were returning from work to prevent water-logging near the mouth of Jatadhari river where the South Korean major has proposed to set up a steel plant.

As PPSS activists neared Gobindpur school on their way back to Dhinkia, a group of armed supporters of Posco allegedly confronted them, leading to the clash, the sources said.

Water-logging at Jatadhari mouth had affected farm land. Members of a government team which had gone to the area to clear water-logging last year had been attacked allegedly by PPSS activists, sources said.

Source : PTI