The survey work at the proposed POSCO steel plant site near Paradip resumed on Thursday, four days after anti POSCO agitators agreed to cooperate with the Orissa government on it.

A senior official said that altogether eight teams comprising six members each entered Gobindpur gram panchayat area in Jagatsinghpur district and conducted socio economic and forest land survey without police protection.

The official said that "The survey work for the INR 52,000 crore projects is going on smoothly with the cooperation of local people.”

POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti which has been protesting against the project for the last five years lifted the make shift gates put up at Dhinkia-Gobindpur area and allowed the team to conduct the survey.

However, eight platoons of armed police were kept as standby at Balitutha and Nuagaon junction to meet any eventuality during the survey which had been suspended last week due to protest from villagers.

In a bid to break the impasse over the proposed mega steel project, Mr Naveen Patnaik CM of Orissa had recently convened a meeting of the opponents of the plant and discussed different aspects.

PPSS leader Sisir Mohapatra said survey work would continue in the area peacefully but that did not mean POSCO plant would be established in the area.

(Sourced from PTI)