A betel vine farmer at the proposed Posco site

Paradip, July 9: The landless labourers, who were working in betel vines in the proposed Posco project area, have been left in the lurch with compensation still eluding them.

As the enumeration process of these workers is underway, the local administration is trying hard to make an accurate list of these workers.

Doubts are being raised over the workers’ list being given by the betel vine owners. The genuine labourers do not figure in the list with the owners allegedly including names of their family members to get compensation.

The process is on to identify the betel vine labourers, who are yet to be covered by the livelihood stakes support package. While about 600 betel growers have been paid compensation following the acquisition of their plots for the steel project, the labourers remained unpaid.

“We are ready with the funds to make up for the loss of income source of the betel vine workers. Once the enumeration process of these workers is done, they would be paid due compensation apart from the monthly subsistence allowance. However, they have to wait till the process is complete,” said special land acquisition officer Nrusingha Charan Swain.

But, identifying the genuine betel vine labourers has become an onerous task as the betel vine owners have submitted a long list of prospective beneficiaries. Their own family members allegedly figure in the list giving rise to apprehensions that the actual labourers might not reap the rehabilitation and resettlement benefits.

Reports from the project villages indicate that the betel vine owners have listed their own relatives while leaving out the genuine labourers.

“After the betel vines were demolished, we are left with no work. Delay in the compensation has made our lives miserable. I do not know whether I will be paid compensation. I am told that the betel vineyard owners are promoting their family members,” said Dayanidhi Behera, 56, a labourer from Noliasahi village.

Additional district magistrate, Saroj Kanta Choudhury said: “The betel farmers have given us the list of labourers working in their betel farms at the time or before the handing over of their plots for the steel project. The list given to us is quite voluminous. That’s why we suspect the owners have resorted to foul-play.”

Allaying fears that genuine workers may be left out from the compensation process, Choudhury said: “The multi-layer enumeration process would be subjected to manifold scrutiny. Thus, the genuine labourers, who are not getting daily wages following the demolition of betel vines, would get their due.”

After the official scrutiny of the list, it would be forwarded to the palli sabha (village body) for its approval. Besides, officials of the agriculture and horticulture department have been involved in the enumeration process. They would decide the number of labourers who could be engaged in a betel vineyard measuring 10 decimal.

The labourers are entitled to receive 20 per cent of the total compensation sum paid to the landowner. The sum would be disbursed in equal proportion among the labourers engaged in the betel plot. Besides, each of the labourer families would receive monthly subsistence allowance of Rs 2,500 till the project work is complete.

In a separate incident, villagers opposing the proposed Posco steel venture captured at least five personnel from the state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation and the Korean steel company yesterday afternoon. However, they were later released.

Police sources said the captors did not hurt them.

“We have received information on the incident. But the villagers have freed the personnel after detaining them for about three hours,” said local sub divisional police officer, Shantanu Kumar Das.

“Villagers held the officials to express their disapproval over the tree-felling exercise without the people’s consent. The collector and the SP were detained at the same spot a fortnight ago. They had assured that everything would be done with the villagers' consensus. But the project was being carried out against the people’s consent,” Nuagaon sarpanch, Bhaskar Swain said.

“They officials were released after they gave us a written undertaking that they would refrain from doing such things in future. They were not ill-treated at all,” said the Nuagaon sarpanch.

“Nearly 3,100 forest classified trees were felled on Friday as part of the forest clearance drive,” said Choudhury.

“Fifty per cent of the felled forest trees were handed over to the forest committees for distribution among the villagers while the rest would be put up for public auction,” he added.