Dhanbad, Sept. 11: A long pending issue of compensation in Dhanbad-based Maithon Power Limited (MPL) was amicably resolved at a two-hour meeting at the district collectorate today.

It was decided that 489 persons, who were the last of the displaced in the thermal power project at Nirsa block, would get jobs in the company in phases from this month, starting with 30 people.

The rest would get job in batches of 50 people each in the subsequent months.

The 489 identified people in the list of displaced would, however, have the option of choosing one-time money compensation of Rs 5 lakh over jobs in the company.

The two-hour-long meeting chaired by Dhanbad deputy commissioner Kripa Nand Jha also saw MPL chief executive officer K. Chandrashekhar and HR officer Sri Ballabh, Nirsa MLA Arup Chatterjee, former Nirsa MLA Aparna Sengupta, JMM leader Ashok Mandal, taking part.

"The issue has been amicably settled and the company management agreed to provide jobs in a phased manner," Dhanbad DC Kripanand Jha told The Telegraph today.

Expressing happiness over the outcome of the meeting, Nirsa MLA Chatterjee, who took part in the meeting, said there was no point of disagreement. "The district administration will ensure jobs based on the list," he added.

JMM's Mandal confirmed the list of 489 persons who would get jobs or compensation had been prepared through mutual consensus. "There is no dispute over the names of persons in the list," he said.

The meeting will hopefully draw curtains on the dispute that flared even last week, as land-losers protested at the company's main gate and locked it.

So far around 2,600 persons, including 950 project-affected persons of 15 villages in Nirsa have so far been provided either compensation or jobs in the company in non-skilled and skilled categories depending on eligibility.

Commercial production at the 1,050 megawatt-capacity plant, a joint venture project of DVC and Tata Power on a 24:76 ration, began in September 2011.