Posco kidnapped officials released unharmed

BHUBANESWAR: Four employees of the South Korean steel giant POSCO, taken hostage by villagers opposed to a proposed 12-billion-dollar plant, were released unharmed, police said Saturday.   

The four - three South Koreans and an Indian - had gone to the village for survey work when they were snatched by anti-POSCO campaigners, police said.   

The kidnap was the second such incident this year in the coastal state's Jagatsinghpur district, where the plant is planned.   

"The four were released by the anti-POSCO campaigners following written assurance by the seized officials that they would not visit the villages in future without prior clearance," police official Amarendra Panda said.   

"No force was used. The officials were treated well by the protesters and not harmed," Panda said by telephone from Dhinkia village, 180 kilometres (112 miles) from Orissa state capital Bhubaneshwar.   

Residents of Dhinkia armed with bamboo sticks guard the entrance to the village, to keep out what they call the three Ps -- police, POSCO and prashasan, the Hindi word for administration.   

In May, villagers held three POSCO employees captive for 10 hours, releasing them after an appeal from a senior company official, activists said.   

Activists say up to 4,000 families would be displaced by the 4,004-acre (1,600 hectares) plant, but POSCO says only 500 families will be affected.   

POSCO, the world's fourth largest steelmaker, says it is confident that construction will begin this month, but some villagers say they will fight for their land to the end.   

The conflict among villagers facing eviction here is part of a growing and often violent discontent in India over land acquisition as the government in New Delhi pushes for industrial development.   

The POSCO project represents India's largest foreign direct investment, dwarfing the 2.9-billion-dollar Enron power plant in Maharashtra state. It says the plant will create 18,000 jobs over the next 10 years.   

But the South Korean firm has struggled to acquire the land it needs amid the continuing protests by villagers   

Opponents say plants should not be set up on fertile land.   

POSCO has tried to sweeten the deal, insisting that displaced families will get "preference" for employment and other forms of compensation in exchange for their land.   

But activists say most of the 4,000 families who they say face displacement in this coastal district remain opposed to the project. 

    
Inspector General of Police (Central Range) S K Upadhaya said that the Posco officials were released after negotiations with the agitators.
    
"We have asked the officials to inform the local police whenever they want to go the plant site where people have been opposing their project," he said.
    
The sources said that desperate over the abysmally slow progress in the project, Posco has been trying to penetrate into the area by any means.
    
Posco's move was viewed as a step to fulfil its target of starting preparatory work at the plant site from October.
    
Earlier Posco-India CMD Soung Sik Cho had said that the company would start 'preparatory' work for the project in October.
    
As 15-days of October have already passed, the steel giant has remained at the place where it was two years ago, pointed out a government official, while replying to a query on the steel giant's 'unexpected' move which led to the hostage drama.
    
"We have been going to the proposed plant site since some time. But today's incident was unexpected," said Posco-India's spokesman Sashanka Patnaik.
    
He said that there had also been a rumour of tension escalating when Cho visited the plant site over a month ago.
    
Posco has claimed that resistance to the company has decreased over the months.
    
"While two of the three gram panchayats in the plant site are supporting the project, only Dhinkia gram panchayat continues to oppose it," said an official.