With tension prevailing in POSCO's proposed plant site area near Paradip, Jagatsinghpur district administration has put restriction on visit of foreign nationals including South Koreans to the project area.

Mr SN Singh POSCO India's DGM told PTI that "We have received an advisory cautioning us not to organize visit of foreigners including South Koreans to the proposed plant site without informing the local police.”

Mr Singh said that the company would go by the advisory issued by the local police, claiming that as such there was no tension in plant site villages as reported in media.

Mr Singh said that "We do not feel unsafe in the transit camp at Nuagaon where the local people are supporting the project adding that the company set up its transit camp office with support of the villagers last month.”

The district administration, sources said, put the restriction after YK Kim one of the directors of POSCO India and a South Korean national spent a night at the company's transit camp at Nuagaon village on December 27.

The local police on the other hand claimed that it did not want to take a chance after the December 14 violence where one person was killed and 24 others were injured in a clash between the anti-project brigade and contractor workers of the coastal road project.

(Sourced from PTI)