Berhampur, Sept. 13: Former Union minister and Congress leader Chandra Sekhar Sahu has asked Tata Steel to return unused land it had acquired for its shelved mega steel project at Gopalpur.

Sahu said the Tatas must utilise the land for the purpose for which it had been acquired else they should return it to the farmers.

“The Tata group has backtracked from its steel project. The proposed industrial park is meaningless,” he said.

Environment activist Prafulla Samantara today also demanded that the state government must take measures to return the acquired land to the farmers.

“The land should not be given to the Tatas for its proposed industrial park,” he said.

Though the state government has declared that there was no question of returning the land to its original owners, the demand for its return to farmers for agricultural use keep cropping up.

The Tata Steel is planning to set up a special economic zone (SEZ) for which the Centre has given clearance. Gopalpur SEZ Limited, a subsidiary of the Tatas, has been allowed to develop the SEZ.

“The demand for return of the acquired land to the original landowners is unjustified,” steel and mines minister Raghunath Mohanty had said earlier. The state pollution control board is scheduled to hold a public hearing on environmental clearance for the two proposed projects of Tata Steel at Chamakhandi village near Chatrapur in Ganjam district on September 20.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone for Gopalpur Industrial Park on August 20, 2010.

The company proposes to invest Rs 1,000 crore to establish these two units.