MINING AND INDUSTRIALISATION UPDATE, ORISSA - Vasundhara

near the Bhushan plant. At the reviewmeting conducted at the Circuit House here,the Sub-Committee discussed elaboratelythe progress of the ongoing Governmentschemes. Apart from district CollectorMrinalini Darswal, ADM GopabandhuPradhan SP Sanjay Kausal and ProjectDirector, DRDA, Bishnu Charan Prusty tookpart in the discussion. Sadar MLA SudhirKumar Samal, Pallahara MLA NrusinghaCharan Sahoo and Talcher MLA MaheshSahoo were among the Sub-Committeemembers.Posco-Tata ka side effectsmake Orissa Coast asMaoists' hotbedThe Orissa Diary, 14 August, 2008Bhubaneswar: Call it the side effects ofSouth-Korean Steel maker Posco and TataEmpire or complete failure of theintelligence network of Orissa Police led byDGP Gopal Chandra Nanda. The antiindustryagitation in Orissa's coastal districtof Jagatsinghpur and Jajpur is first marchingtowards a Red Revolution if the recent casesare to be taken into account. It is high timefor the Police Headquarters to strengthenedits intelligence network and the privatecompanies should also ensure the fruits ofrehabilitation and resettlement to reach thereal the beneficiaries. The recent cases ofMaoists activities under the Central PoliceRange, has certainly posed a major threat forthe internal security of the State as well. OnWednesday, Jajpur police arrested twoalleged Maoists included a woman cadre andhanded over to Jagatsinghpur Police forfurther interrogation. "We have beeninterrogating Pratima Das, who is resident ofPradhansahi in Chowdwar and DevendraDas of Kanjiakana village under Erasamaarea," Jagatsinghpur SP RK Sharma toldover phone. The Jajpur police caught to thetwo near Krushnadaspur underBalichandrapur police station about 65 kmfrom Jajpur district headquarters. Theoutlawed outfits underground network tosome extent reduced following the arrest ofchief of CPI (ML) Janashakti Anna Reddyand his lovebird Rani Jamuda in January2008. Few days back, three Superintendentsof Police ( SPs) including Jagatsinghpur SP,RK Sharma, Sambalpur SP Sanjay Kumarand Deogarh SP, Sanjeev Arora interrogatedtwo top Maoists leaders in Jagatsinghpurafter they were arrested. The JagatsinghpurPolice earlier arrested two Maoists topleaders including Prasana Pal and RanjanRout, who had reportedly involved inNayagarh attack in February 2008. Pal is amember of the Central Core Committee ofthe Maoists organisation, while Ranjan,holds the position of deputy commander. Infact, Prasanna was one of the 12-corecommittee members formed by Maoists forthe Nayagarh attack. Police officials said theMaoists are now trying to make inroads inJagatsinghpur, where Posco is setting up its12 million tonne steel plant. The recent twocases have cleared all speculation about themovement of Maoists in coastal Orissa. CPI-Maoist propaganda has been asserting thatGovernment policies have led to a furthermarginalisation of tribals and forest dwellersin the State, with large ventures like thePOSCO and Kalinga Nagar steel projects, aswell as bauxite mining and other largeenterprises leading to massive displacementin Orissa. Accordingly, at their 9th Congressin January-February 2007, the Maoistscalled on all "forest dwellers to resist till theend the massive displacement taking placeand protect their land and forests from therobbers and looters that seek to seize them."The 9th Congress also called on "the vastoppressed peasantry to rise as a storm… tosweep away their oppressors and establishtheir own people's power from village tovillage", and exhorted the working class to"throw off the chains of the revisionists,reformists, and reactionary trade unionistsand take to militant struggles against theattacks on their living standards anddemocratic rights." There is some evidencethat the Maoists have penetrated the majordevelopmental project complex and areorchestrating a revolt by uniting locals. Forinstance, they have formed the POSCO29