By IANS
Jagatsinghpur (Orissa) : At least 10 people were injured, two of them critically, after two groups Sunday clashed in an Orissa village over South Korean steel major Posco’s proposed plant in the state.
The trouble begun when activists opposed to the project attacked a priest of Nuagaon Mahabir temple at Nuagaon village for performing rituals at the Jatadhari river on behalf of a dredging company hired by the Indian Oil Corporation Thursday.
On that day, seven officials of the company were kidnapped by anti-Posco activists and were released a day later after police intervention.
This led to a conflict between those opposing the project and those supporting it, police said.
Two of the 10 people injured were rushed to a hospital in Cuttack after their condition turned critical, a senior police official told IANS.
The region has witnessed a series of clashes since the steel company and the Orissa government signed a deal in June 2005 for the $12 billion steel plant that is slated to come up near the port town of Paradeep by 2016.
The anti-Posco groups are not allowing any government or Posco officials to enter the proposed plant site. They say the plant will displace over 20,000 people from 15 villages and ruin their betel leaf farming.
Posco says the plant would affect only 500 families but it would create thousands of jobs. The project has been on a stalemate due to the protests.