The Essar steel plant in Paradip. File picture

Paradip, April 8: Issues such as employment of displaced people, rehabilitation and resettlement packages have cropped up again with the commercial production of the 12-million-tonne-per-annum (MTPA) Essar pellet plant at Paradip set to become operational shortly.

Aware that the rehabilitation measures have not been fulfilled, district administration authorities took up the issue with plant officials recently seeking protection of the interests of land-losing and displaced families in accordance with rehabilitation and resettlement policy of the state government.

“The company has been directed to safeguard livelihood stakes of the displaced and land-losing families on a priority basis. According to the Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development Advisory Committee guidelines, the company has committed to engage at least one person from each of the displaced families in a phased manner. The administration is quite optimistic that members of all the 1,000 displaced families would get jobs in the company when it becomes fully operational. The steelmaker has deposited Rs 80 crore with the administration. The land-losers, who are yet to receive compensation, would be paid from the said deposits,” said Sujit Das, Paradip additional district magistrate.

About 700 families have lost their agricultural land to the project and more than 300 families had to part with their homestead land. So farm members of about 200 families have been given jobs by the steelmaker.

“The company has doled out false promises from time to time. The landlosers were not compensated on time and members of displaced families have not got jobs. Besides, the rehabilitation colony project did not come up despite assurances by the company authorities. That’s why, people had resolved to continue the agitation till things reach a logical conclusion. We have taken up the matter with the district administration so that our lawful demands are met with before the plant begins its production. Non-fulfilment of the demands would lead to a people’s agitation,” said Tofan Swain, president of Gramya Surakhya Samity, an outfit espousing the cause of displaced and land-losing families.

“The company has provided employment to only 141 displaced families. A large number of displaced families are yet to be covered under compensatory employment scheme. The company paying respect to rehabilitation and resettlement rules framed by the Odisha government should ensure cent per cent employment to the displaced families. Otherwise the steelmaker will face people’s wrath,” he said.

Essar had signed an MoU with the Odisha government in May 2005 for a six MTPA steel plant at Paradip. The state government had also inked an MoU with South Korean steel maker Posco for a mega steel project. However, the Posco steel plant, billed as country’s largest foreign direct investment project, has been much delayed following intense resistance.

The Essar project requires 1,500 acres of land for the purpose. Over 250 acres had already been acquired where the pellet plant would come up shortly. The legal formalities and process for acquisition of the rest of the land are under way for the integrated steel project. The company has already spent about Rs 250 crore in Odisha, Swain claimed.