Amidst a series of protests and demonstrations, Odisha government finally completed the land acquisition for the proposed steel plant of South Korean major POSCO in Jagatsinghpur district on Thursday.

Posco-India requires 2700 acres of land to set up an eight million tonne per annum capacity plant. However, Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) has handed over 1703 acres to the firm till now. The rest of the land will be transferred to Posco later.

Hundreds of betel vines have been demolished in the district to acquire the land for the proposed project. The government had to face huge criticism from the anti-Posco organisation and rights activists while acquiring the land for the company. The state had witnessed several clashes between the villagers and district administration for the land acquisition.

The government had acquired 2000 acres by May last year. The remaining 700 acres were acquired in several phases amidst violence. The government had decided to hand over the forest land and revenue land to the company for the project. However, it had to face many difficulties on its way. Even though, the entire land belonged to the government, it was in possession of the villagers who were cultivating betel vines for livelihood.