Denounce State Preparations for Terror in Jagatsinhpur, Orissa.

We are writing this letter to register our strongest protest against the build-up of State repression in the Jagatsinhpur district of Orissa.

Villagers opposed to POSCO's steel plant in Jagatsinhpur district of Orissa are now at the receiving end of state violence. Fearful of the consequences of allowing Government surveyors access to their lands, villagers of Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Garakuchang have barricaded themselves inside their villages, thereby restricting public access to the proposed project areas.

With five days to go before the statutory public hearing scheduled for 15 April the Government has deployed fifteen platoons of paramilitary armed to the teeth. Paid henchmen and local cadres of the ruling party are routinely engaging in strong-arm tactics to terrorize the villagers. Moreover, the State Administration has chosen to hold the Public Hearing, as a mere formality, at Kuchang the stronghold of the ruling BJD party, where any voices of opposition will be brutally silenced.

Local reports confirm that villagers that have barricaded themselves are prepared to sacrifice themselves to save their lands. By underestimating the depth of opposition to the POSCO project, the Orissa Government may be committing the same mistake that the Left Front government did in Nandigram.

As a group of people committed to uphold the democratic aspirations of the people of India and elsewhere, we urge you to immediately take steps such that -

1. Conditions favourable for hearing the villagers' concerns are immediately created by removing paramilitary forces and police from the vicinity of the project area.

2. An immediate announcement is made that no project will be located in those villages against the wishes of the local people.

3. A democratic process is initiated for a healthy debate on the path of development to be followed in India.