The increased use of force in suppression of demands by locals in Jagatshighpur, Orissa with respect to concerns about the setting up of POSCO is concerning to many citizens of India.

Related Links
Documentary on POSCO and People's Rights - Part I
Documentary on POSCO and People's Rights - Part II
Documentary on POSCO and People's Rights - Part III
Orissa Mining Deals: Bad Economics

Orissa's peasants, tribal and forest communities are fighting displacement from their land which has been earmarked for the POSCO project by the state government. The state government has been using intimidation and force to evict the people without appropriate rehabilitation. People appalled by this process are writing to the PM of India and the Chief Minister of Orissa to protest violation of human rights and democratic processes. Please review the following petitions and endorse it if you agree.

To:

Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India 
Shri Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Orissa 

Date: Feb 8, 2008 

Prime Minister Singh and Chief Minister Patnaik, 

We are writing to protest the grievous violations of laws and the abuse of democratic processes that we are witnessing at the hands of Government of India and the State Government of Orissa in the matter of the construction of a steel plant by the Pohang Steel Company (POSCO) in Jagatsinghpur, Orissa. These violations encompass human rights abuses such as the use of state force and intimidation to quell dissent against the project, attempts to force evictions, involuntary and inadequate resettlement of villages in the project affected area, losses of land, housing and livelihood of the people, as well as serious harm to the land, forest, riparian and marine ecologies and environments in Orissa. These concerns are detailed in the attached addendum/background to this petition.  

According to numerous reports over the last two and half years from the field and in the media, there has been a groundswell of resistance by the people of the region against the loss of their livelihoods and eviction from prime cultivable land that will result from this project. Upon review of all memoranda and related data, we find the process of POSCO project approval to be illegal on the following grounds: 

1. Human Right violations such as the incident in Balitutha, Orissa, where peaceful protesters belonging to PPSS (POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti) were attacked by over 1000 hired hands of POSCO with full support from the state. Further, villagers of Dhinkia that have barricaded their village against the entry of government officials are being held in a state of siege by the state police of Orissa which is controlling the villagers’ access to food and medicines. Small farmers, fisher-folk and workers resisting displacement and the destruction of their livelihoods are exercising their fundamental rights and should not be forced into submission by the State.
2. India is a signatory to international conventions and treaties on the right to adequate housing, and involuntary/coercive displacement of affected communities is illegal under Indian law, as well as under India's international treaty obligations. The relief and rehabilitation packages proposed by POSCO are also in violation of international standards and norms as they offer cash for land, and have been categorically refused by the villagers.
3. The provisions of Panchayati Raj (73^rd amendment) in the Constitution of India call for any planning of economic development and the control of natural resources to start at the level of the village panchayat. The approval of the POSCO project, in the face of clear opposition by the three affected panchayats is therefore unconstitutional and illegal.
4. Under the EIA notification rules of the Govt. of India, public hearings for environmental clearances should be held in proximity of affected people and should be free from duress. The statutory public hearings of April 2007 were situated 20 km away and were conducted with the assistance of 15 paramilitary units, and are therefore in violation of statutory provisions.
5. The threats to endangered turtles and other aquatic species, threats to forests (by the felling of nearly 300,000 trees), and threats to the environment through mining, plant and port construction would violate various Indian wildlife, forest protection and environmental laws.

In light of the above illegalities and human right violations, we demand the following: 

1. There should be an immediate and complete withdrawal of police and paramilitary forces from the schools and from the villages of the proposed plant sites. Mercenary elements hired by project proponents should also be immediately withdrawn.

1. Open, honest and direct consultation with the people of the affected villages should be conducted after an atmosphere of calm is created. The government should make a commitment that forest and cultivated lands will not be acquired without a fair and prior informed consent that has been reached through democratic processes.

1. If, and only in the case where there is an affirmative consent from the affected people that their land can be acquired, they must be compensated as per the best international standards and norms, and to their satisfaction. If consent from the affected villages is not forthcoming, the project should be scrapped.

1. The government must not relax any requirements for various clearances and permits for the project, and due process should be followed. Detailed environmental impact assessments must be made public, adequately debated, and concerns responded to with public hearings held in the affected areas without resort to coercion and duress. Serious environmental impacts of this project should be adequately mitigated, failing which, the project should be scrapped.