By IANS
Bonai (Orissa) : Former union minister Jual Oram Wednesday led a massive rally in Orissa to protect the state's biggest waterfall in his home district Sundergarh from mining activities carried out by South Korean steel major Posco.
More than 50,000 people from all over the state took part in the rally that was organised under the banner of the Khandadhar Surakhaya Samiti at Bonai, a small town in Sundergarh district, some 350 km from Bhubaneswar, a district police official said.
About a dozen members of the state legislative assembly, several leaders of the ruling Biju Janata Dal, Congress and Left parties also attended the rally.
A team led by Oram also submitted a memorandum to the local sub-collector protesting the state government's decision, police added.
Posco, one of the world's biggest steel makers, signed a deal with the state government in June 2005 to set up the plant near the port town of Paradeep in the coastal district of Jagatsinghpur by 2016.
Over 20,000 people from around 15 nearby villages including Dhinkia, Gada Kujanga and Nuagaon are protesting the project saying it will displace them and ruin their betel leaf farming.
The state government has recently recommended to the central government that Posco be given prospecting license in 6,200 hectares in Khandhadar block that houses the state's tallest 300-foot-high waterfall, Oram, who is also the national vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), told IANS.
The mining activities for the proposed steel plant could dry up the water, damage the environment and ruin the source of livelihood of the locals, the former tribal affairs minister added.
"We will not allow Posco to carry out mining activities here," Oram who is a sitting MP from Sundergarh Lok Sabha seat, said.
"The state government is not taking any steps to provide us good roads, health care where as it is going out of its way to appease Posco," he said.
A Posco official, however, said the company would take steps to protect the environment. "We are also determined to protect the interest of the local people by providing them suitable alternatives."