District administration resumed land acquisition for the propsed Posco steel project at Gobindapur on Wednesday.
“Demolition of betel vines has almost reached the final stage and only 40 more vines will be demolished for which, villagers have given their consent,” said Sarat Kumar Purohit, in-charge special land acquisition officer. On Wednesday, four betel vines were demolished in lieu of ` 7.94 lakhs towards compensation. Trench cutting work for construction of boundary is also under progress.
Land acquisition was stalled for nearly a week following the Green Tribunal’s order on environmental clearance to the project.
On the other hand, agitated over the development, a large number of anti-posco activists held a meeting near Patna village to protest against the Government move.
Anti-Posco leader for PPSS women group Manonarama Khatua said, “Though a few pro-Posco activists agreed to hand over their betel vines to Posco, more than 100 betel vine owners in Gobindapur are against the company.”