The Odisha Government today began consultations with villagers to acquire an additional 700 acre required for the Posco project, with a group opposed to it saying it was illegal.

Though District Collector SK Mallick was confident of convincing the villagers to give up their land, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti president Abhay Sahoo termed the government's efforts to acquire land as illegal. "The effort to acquire land is illegal as a case in is pending in the court of the National Green Tribunal," Sahoo said.