Dist admn hopeful to acquire more lands for Posco

“We aim at dismantling 50 more betel vines today for which two separate teams have been formed,” Jagatsinghpur collector SK Mallik said.

According to officials, the district administration on Sunday disbursed cheques to the tune of Rs 32 lakh to the betel vineyards owners for their acquired lands who voluntarily agreed to handover their lands for the proposed plant.

On the other hand, elaborate security arrangements have been made for the land acquisition process.

“14 platoons of police have been deployed to prevent any untoward situation. Everything is going well with the land acisition operation,” SP Satyabrat Bhoi said.

On Sunday the state government after a gap of one and a half year resumed the land acquisition process which was thwarted due to stiff public resistance over dismantling of betel vineyards and felling of trees.

The state government needs an additional 700 acres of land required for the mega project for which it had already acquired 2,000 acres.