By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Hundreds of tribals Monday staged a demonstration to protest the proposed Rs.400-billion steel plant by global major ArcelorMittal in Keonjhar district of Orissa.
The protestors shouted slogans like “Go back Mittal”, “We will not give an inch of land for the plant”, in front of a hall at district headquarter of Keonjhar, some 150 km from here, where a meeting organized by the company officials was on, a senior district police official told IANS.
The company held a meeting inviting villagers, NGOs and government officials to seek their suggestions on the rehabilitation package for the tribals.
Although the company officials also invited the leaders of the protestors to join the meeting, they refused, the police official said.
ArcelorMittal signed a deal with the Orissa government, two years ago, to set up a 12 million tonne capacity steel plant at a proposed investment of Rs.400 billion on nearly 8,000 acres of land in the tribal populated Keonjhar district.
“We will make efforts to convince people that the project will ensure a better life for them,” Sanak Mishra, CEO for ArcelorMittal’s greenfield steel projects in Jharkhand and Orissa, said.