BHUBANESWAR: Taking advantage of the budget session being in recess, the Odisha government has begun preparations to shortly resume land acquisition for the proposed Posco steel project in Jagatsinghpur district, official sources said on Wednesday.

"We intend to restart land acquisition for Posco this week," a government source told TOI, refusing to divulge the date from which the operations would be launched again. The issue was discussed at a meeting chaired by chief secretary B K Patnaik on Tuesday evening, but government and Posco representatives are tight-lipped about the deliberations.

BHUBANESWAR: Under the microscope for allegedly engaging in illegalities, several mine owners on Wednesday raised objections before the Justice M B Shah Commission to the manner in which boundaries of mines were determined using satellite images.

Various miners, represented by prominent lawyers, strongly pleaded before the inquiry commission for a fresh physical verification of the boundaries of different mines.

BHUBANESWAR: As noted social activist B D Sharma visited Posco's proposed steel site in Jagatsinghpur district on Monday to lend his support to the project's opponents, top executives of the South Korean company requested senior government officers in the state capital to resume land acquisition work at the earliest.

Official sources said deputy managing director of Posco-India H C Ryu met officials at the chief minister's office (CMO) and exhorted them to revive the land takeover activities, which were stalled last week in the face of stiff resistance from the anti-industry brigade and local villagers.

BHUBANESWAR: The Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) on Thursday announced it would commission the first phase of its six million tonne per annum (MTPA) steel plant in Angul within two months.

"By March we will achieve two MTPA production capacity in the first phase," company chairman Naveen Jindal said after meeting senior state government functionaries at the secretariat here. About 30,000 people were working round the clock to meet the deadline, he informed, adding the facility would achieve full capacity of six MTPA within the next three years.