Holding the Mr Naveen Patnaik government responsible for the delay in the implementation of the proposed POSCO steel project, Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee sought prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh's intervention to shift it to barren land near the present site in Jagatsinghpur.

Mr Niranjan Patnaik president of OPCC said that "I told the Prime Minister about the fertile and multi-crop land at Dhinkia where the state government has identified land for setting up the POSCO project. I informed him that vast barren land was available barely 7 kilometer away.”

He said that "I told the PM that it is better late than never.”

Mr Patnaik said he also appraised the prime minister that the district administration was unable to enter the core area of the proposed plant site due to stiff opposition from children, women and elderly people.

The POSCO project, the MoU for which was signed in 2005 and expired in June 2010 can never be implemented unless there is shift of the project site.

The political leadership in the Biju Janata Dal government had not applied its mind before selecting the site for the country's biggest Foreign Direct Investment project and the project was facing opposition from the local people due to wrong selection of the site.

However, the previous Congress government in the state had denied permission to IOCL and a fertiliser company to set up their projects in the area.

(Sourced from www.dnaindia.com)