PARADIP : The State BJP leaders, led by K V Singhdeo, raised the Posco issue at an election campaign on Thursday in Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadakujang - the panchayats where villagers had given up their land for the proposed steel project - in Jagatsinghpur district.
They later held a meeting at Balitutha under Erasama block and accused the State Government of cheating the villagers, who are yet to get compensation even after giving their land to the South Korean steel major.
Addressing villagers, Singhdeo said the proposed steel project would have been a burden on people of the three panchayats. “The Chief Minister only favours industrial houses and not poor villagers. Had the Posco project come up, people of the panchayats would have lost their livelihood. The entire project was a plan to loot our minerals. It was the BJP-led government at the Centre which was instrumental in stopping the steel project,” he said.
Singhdeo appealed to villagers to vote for BJP-supported candidates in the ensuing panchayat election. The party leaders said BJP would ensure development in the area if voted to power in the rural election. Zilla Parishad candidate, Sumita Rout, who is contesting from Zone 3, said betel vine owners, labourers and other villagers of the three panchayats have not yet received compensation even after handing over their land to Posco.