Dear Comrade,

As you are already aware BJP and BJD led government of Orissa signed an MOU with POSCO (Pohang steel Company) of South Korea with a declared intention of setting up of a mega steel plant with foreign direct investment worth 5.2  Billion US dollars (Rs.52000 crores). The State of Orissa agreed to extend all necessary support to this Korean company for setting up the mega steel plant, getting iron ore from Khandadhar mines, water from Mahanadi, coal for the power plant and a private captive port at Jatadhar.  The government also promised to get POSCO all necessary clearances from the forest and environment agencies etc. At the same time a rosy picture was painted in the media about the kind of change the project would bring into the area, which was thoroughly misleading. Despite the disinformation campaign launched by an unholy coalition of anti-people politicians, bureaucrats and hostile media, the people of the area have been resisting the installation of the project under the banner of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti. Our resistance is confined only to the site of the proposed steel plant. The project has a target to crush the livelihood of about of 8 villages in three Gram Panchayats (GP).  Land under cultivation and control of the dalits and peasants have been shrewdly classified as government land and without consent of or consultation with the villagers, the BJP & BJD led government has agreed to hand over about 3600 acres of such lands to POSCO.  Out of the 4004 acres, which the government intends to hand over to POSCO, initially only 436.68 acres have been considered as private land for which compensation will be paid. But most of the betel vines and cashew plantations have come up in the so called government land. They have been under the possession of the people for decades.  Rice, fish and betel vines provide the life line for the economy of the region, which is relatively stable, compared to other coastal regions. Similarly, activities of the people dependant on fishing will also get adversely affected if a port comes up at the estuary of the Jatadhar river, besides creating a lot more health and environmental hazards.

Now after releasing a region of terror with the support of local mafia and corporate friendly district police and administration, the company has become desperate to break the people's resistance by any means. The violence on the agitators on 29th November 2007 and incidents of violence engineered by the company in the area in the name of "conflicts resolution" by so called POSCO supporters after that event speak about the desperation of the company to force the project on the unwilling people. The state is just patronizing all these wrongful and criminal activities. To protest against all this and to put forth a single point demand to scrap the POSCO Steel Plant project we have decided to observe Black week from June 23, 2008 for a week. We would request you to please come down to Balitutha to take active part in the event and to express your solidarity with the agitations.

With regards,

Abhay Sahu, President.

DHINKIA, JAGATSINGHPUR