Steeling for a Cut

More than six lakh trees to be cut for Posco project - The Economic Times: "BHUBANESWAR: Over six lakh trees and some 1,800 betel vines will have to be sacrificed to set up Posco's Rs 52,000 crore mega steel project in Orissa's coastal Jagatsinghpur district.

The trees to make way for the greenfield project include about three lakh casuarina and as many horticultural plants, official sources said.

Local people have voiced strong opposition against the move to clear the trees, arguing that they will be exposed to cyclone, tsunami and other natural calamities.

While a large number of women are guarding the forest area, male members of the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, the organisation opposing the project, have posted themselves at Gobindpur village to prevent entry of security personnel and government officials to enter the plant area."