The United Action Committee which supports POSCO's proposed mega steel project in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district, has demanded higher prices for parting with land during talks with Mr Naveen Patnaik chief minister of Orissa.

While the South Korean steel major in its earlier rehabilitation package agreed to pay INR 75,000 per acre of agricultural land, the UAC has demanded INR 4 million which was about 53 times more.

For betel vines, for which POSCO had fixed the cost at INR 0.7 million per acre, the UAC demanded INR 2.5 million. They also submitted a 29 point charter of demands.

Taken aback by the demand, an executive at POSCO's country headquarters said that "We don't understand whether UAC is supporting the project or opposing it by making such exorbitant demands."

The executive said that if the demands were to be conceded, the company would have to re estimate its project cost of INR 52,000 crore.

UAC leader Tamil Pradhan, however did not think the rate quoted was abnormally high. He said that "If the price of barren land can be INR 1.910 million per acre at Paradip, there is nothing wrong in demanding INR 4 million per acre for fertile and multi crop agricultural land at Dhinkia, Gada Kujang and Nuagaon gram panchayat areas.”

(Sourced from PTI)