Odisha Govt to take back 1703 Acres of POSCO Land

Amidst reports of POSCO’s pull out of the Odisha project, the government has decided to take back 1,703 acres of land handed over to the steel giant for failing to make the payment of Rs 73 crore towards premium and Net Payment Value (NPV) of the land.

The state government has directed the Jagatsinghpur Collector to take possession of the land, leading to a fresh tussle with POSCO. It is believed once the 1,703 acres of land get cancelled, POSCO will take all possible steps to move the project out of Odisha.

POSCO India requires 2,700 acres of land for its 8 MTPA steel project. The company was given 1,703.56 acres by IDCO, while remaining 1000 acres of land were held up by the government. Posco is yet to make payment of Rs 54.22 crore towards premium of the land and Rs 18.89 crore towards NPV.

POSCO is reportedly exploring possibilities to shift its project to Jharkhand or any other state. The proposed POSCO project was supposed to be the biggest steel plant in Asia.