3 South Koreans among 4 Posco officials taken hostage in Orissa

Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), which has been opposing South Korean steel major POSCOs project, on Saturday seized four senior company officials, including three South Korean nationals, at the companys proposed captive port site near Paradip in Orissas Jagatsinghpur District.

Bhubaneswar, Oct 13 : Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), which has been opposing South Korean steel major POSCO's project, on Saturday seized four senior company officials, including three South Korean nationals, at the company's proposed captive port site near Paradip in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur District.

The senior officials of the Posco-India, Posco's Indian subsidiary, identified as General Manager (Construction) K S Choi, S H Nam, T J Aan and D Ojha, an Oriya official, were held hostage when they were undertaking survey near the proposed port site.

The company officials were held hostage as they deliberately entered the "restricted" area, PPSS president Abhay Sahu said, adding that "They are safe."

After the company inked MoU with the State Government, villagers have raised barricades to prevent government and company officials from entering the area.

The PPSS has been maintaining that they would not allow the South Korean company's green-field project to come up near Paradip, saying that the project would displace people.

Jagatsinghpur Collector P K Meherda has said that efforts were on to ensure safe release of the four detained.

POSCO, world's fourth largest steel maker, had signed a deal in June 2005 to set up a four-tranche 12 billion dollar steel project in India, marking what was billed the biggest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country.

The company had announced it would start steel production in its plants in India by 2010.

The Orissa Government has granted POSCO mining lease rights for 30 years to supply a total of 600 million tonnes of iron ore to the new plant. The mining lease has been given in phases, depending on the progress of the plant.

The project also includes a dedicated port and power plant, iron mines, a hot-rolled coil mill and possible help to build railway lines between the mines and the plant.

ANI