Bhubaneswar:
In a blow to the five-year anti-Posco agitation, villagers earlier opposed to the mega steel plant project of the South Korean company in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district on Tuesday approached the authorities and asked them to take up survey work in their area.
"Residents of Gobindpur village came to my office and submitted a written memorandum urging us to start the survey work as the villagers supported the project," Jagatsinghpur district collector N C Jena told PTI over phone.
Some of the villagers claimed they were terrorised by the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), Jena added.
People in Gobindpur invited police officials to their village during the day, defying a PPSS diktat against entry of police and government officials into Dhinkia gram panchayat area.
Dhinkia gram panchayat has so far been considered a bastion of anti-Posco movement.
According to sources, a section of people of Dhinkia village were also planning to allow survey activities in their area.
"We have so far completed survey work in five of the seven villages identified for the Rs 52,000-crore mega steel plant," Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), central division, P K Mohapatra, said.
The administration is yet to decide when to start survey at Gobindpur village.