Orissa govt halts Posco land acquisition Bhubaneswar: In a temporary respite to anti-Posco agitators, the Orissa government on Sunday halted land acquisition for the Rs 52,000 crore steel project for five days.

There would be no land acquisition for the Posco project at the proposed site near Paradip for five days from on Sunday in view of the "Rajo" festival which is celebrated in Orissa, Jagatsinghpur district Collector NC Jena said.

After the five-day break, the land acquisition work which has been going on for the last several days, is scheduled to be resumed on June 17, he said.

The brief break comes at a time when the agitation has intensified with women and children at the forefront even as the Orissa government, which had declared the protests as "unlawful" continues land acquisition amid heavy deployment of police force till Saturday....more    
08:36 PM, Jun 12, 2011