A day after talks with officials failed, anti-Posco agitators on Sunday demanded direct discussions with Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik on their opposition to the site identified for the Rs 52,000 crore mega steel project near Paradip.

Leaders of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) also sought immediate halt to the socio-economic and forest surveys being carried out at the proposed plant site with villages saying that the exercise had triggered tension among the people.

The PPSS strongly protested the government's refusal to stop the survey work when the matter was discussed during the second round of talks between anti-Posco leaders and revenue divisional commissioner (RDC), central division, P K Mohapatra, and other officials yesterday.

"It is pointless to hold talks with the officials who simply follow a bureaucratic approach. We want direct discussion with the chief minister over the issue," PPSS President Abhay Sahu said.

Talks are meaningless when innocent villagers in the proposed plant site area are facing police excesses in the name of survey, another PPSS leader claimed and added that the survey work should have been stopped after the first round of talks held on May 29.

The RDC has, however, denied any police excess and claimed that the survey has been going on smoothly with the support and cooperation of the people.