Young Gandhi clears air on Posco Project

BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to make amends, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who extended conditional support to the Posco project on Wednesday, said a day later that alternative land, if not agricultural, would be a better option.“If there is land available (for Posco project) which is not agricultural land, it will be a better solution,” the Congress general secretary told mediapersons here.Stating that he is not opposed to the development projects, including Posco, Rahul said the issue is poor people should not be brushed aside. If the poor are comfortable with the project, then it is good, he said and added if they are not given their rights and pushed aside then the party is not in favour of the project.Rahul said the State Government would also have to meet all the 30 conditions set by the Ministry of Environment and Forests while clearing the project. Maintaining that there is no ambivalence on the Posco project, the Nehru-Gandhi scion said it wanted adequate compensation to the affected people and their proper rehabilitation.“Our only stand is that the poor people should be part of the development process,” he said.He drew a parallel between the Bhatta Parsaul and Posco issues saying that both are similar. Land is taken away from the poor to favour the rich, he said.There is no problem in infrastructure in both the cases as roads are there, he said and added that development and projects are also not the problem. The main issue is what are the poor going to get in the end, he said and added that they should be properly rehabilitated.Addressing a public meeting here later in the day before winding up his visit to the State, Rahul said though Orissa is rich in mineral resources, its people continue to be impoverished as they do not get benefits from the developmental activities.He said the State has resources like iron ore, bauxite and many other precious minerals. But surprisingly poverty among people of Orissa is the highest in the country, he added.Terming direct export of minerals from the State as “wrong”, he said the poor people do not get any benefit from this process.