The Hindu Business Line : Abducted Posco executives released

Assurance
Mr Y.K. Kim, General Manager (Land Acquisition and Development), Posco-India, spoke to Mr Abhay Sahu, President of the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, which is spearheading the agitation against the project, and assured him that the company will not send its men to the area in the days to come.

Bhubaneswar May 12 Two employees of Posco-India held hostage were released early on Saturday after the company assured the villagers that it will not send its employees to the area to convince them to sell land for an integrated steel project being put up by it.

However, Posco-India officials in Bhubaneswar said that they would continue talking to the people to acquire land for the project.

"In spite of these hurdles, we will continue our dialogue with the villagers in a peaceful manner," Mr Sashank Patnaik, Senior Manager (Corporate Communications), said.

The abuduction

Three Posco-India employees were taken hostage on Friday afternoon when they had gone to Dhinkia gram panchayat to talk to the people about the benefits of the proposed 12-million-tonnes-a-year steel plant.

However, a woman employee, Ms Rosalin Parida, and the driver of the car that brought them to the village, were allowed to leave.

The other two — Mr Chaudhury Pranabananda Das and Mr Debashis Swain — were released early on Saturday.

Mr Y.K. Kim, General Manager (Land Acquisition and Development), Posco-India, spoke to Mr Abhay Sahu, President of the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, which is spearheading the agitation against the project, and assured him that the company will not send its men to the area in the days to come.

Displacement fear

The three employees worked in Posco's local office, at Kujang, in the vicinity of Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadakujang, where the villagers are facing displacement to make way for the plant.

The Samiti laid a condition that they would not release the employees unless the company assured them it would not send its employees to the area in future.

Case registered

After the release, the Jagatsinghpur district police have registered a case against the villagers for abducting the company's employees and damaging their vehicle.

Mr Y.K. Jethwa, Superintendent of Police, said the police registered a case based on a complaint by the car driver.

Mr Sahu has been named the prime accused, Mr Jethwa said.

The charges against them include abduction, wrongful restraint and causing damage to the car.

The hostage drama started around 4 p.m. on Friday when the villagers surrounded the Posco employees and ended at 2 a.m. on Saturday when the employees returned to Posco's local office in a police vehicle.

`Stiff resistance'

The Orissa Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, said the company was facing stiff resistance only in the villages coming under Dhinkia, where the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti had some support, he said.

Mr Patnaik recently asked Posco to talk to the people directly to facilitate the process of land acquisition after the State Government failed to achieve any success.

"Our people have visited Gadakujang and Nuagaon panchayats several times by now, but it is only in Dhinkia panchayat that we are facing some strong opposition," Mr Sashank Patnaik said.

A company official, however, said that while they will continue to hold discussions with the people for acquiring private land, the district administration should make efforts to hand over the Government land to the company.

Of the 4,004 acres of land required for the project, only 438 acres were private land and the rest belonged to the Government.

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