Police arrested 70 people in eastern India on Sunday during a protest against a $12-billion dollar steel plant planned by South Korean firm, POSCO, witnesses and police said. Protesters said the project in Orissa state would displace 20,000 villagers from their homes and farms.
But the government says the plant, which is set to be India's largest foreign direct investment, would affect only 500 families and create thousands of jobs.
Demonstrators, carrying placards reading "POSCO go back", tried to force their way into Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's residence in state capital Bhubaneswar, but were stopped by police who beat up some of them.
Leading environmentalist Medha Patkar who led the protests demanded that the government hold an "open dialogue" on the proposed plant by the world's fifth-largest steel maker.
The protests were triggered by the state government's move to hand over hundreds of acres of land to POSCO, off the port city of Paradip for the plant which is expected to start production by 2010.
Due to the protests, the government has so far been able to acquire only 1,135 acres (460 hectares) of the total 4,000 acres required for the POSCO plant, with village groups putting up barricades and refusing to vacate their lands, officials said.
A year ago, POSCO signed a MoU with the Orissa government for the unit that would eventually produce 12 million tonnes a year.
Despite the protests, POSCO officials said the project would take off.
"We hope people will understand the importance of the project and stop protesting," Tae Hyun Jeong, the deputy managing director of POSCO Company Ltd's India project, told Reuters.
The South Korean steel maker has been looking at new markets, particularly in China and India, where steel demand is rising.
Easy availability of raw materials such as iron ore and a strong domestic market has drawn global steel majors such as POSCO to Orissa.