Anti-Posco agitation: Police fire tear gas shells

Paradip (Orissa): Police on Saturday fired tear gas shells to disperse anti-Posco protestors blocking the road in Orissa. Protesters retaliate by pelting stones and crude bombs on police. However, the state administration is determined to clear road blocks today.

Earlier, CPI leader and MP Bibhu Prasad Tarai were arrested while trying to enter the proposed steel plant site of Posco-India ahead of a rally to protest the project.

"Tarai was arrested as a preventive measure to avoid any law and order problem as a large number of anti-Posco activists have gathered in the area," SP Jagatsinghpur Devdutta Singh said.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC have been imposed around Balitutha, the entry point to the proposed plant site where anti-Posco activists have been staging a dharna, he said.

Police personnel have been deployed in the area to prevent any untoward incident, Singh said.

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About 1,500 police have been mobilised as part of Orissa government's efforts to begin forest survey and land acquisition in the plant site, police said.

Meanwhile, terming his arrest as "undemocratic", Tarai said he was proceeding to learn about people's problem area which falls under his constituency, Jagatsinghpur.

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As unrest brewed in the area following Tarai's arrest, CPI state secretary Dibakar Nayaka accused the administration and police of acting in "undemocratic and arbitrary" manner to suppress people's voice. He said CPI would launch a vigorous state-wide agitation against it.

Seeking withdrawal of force from Balitutha, CPI-backed Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) continued its dharna, which began on January 26.

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The organisation has planned a rally to be addressed by CPI leader A B Bardhan on May 19, the outfit members said.

(With inputs from PTI)