The Iffco fertiliser plant in Paradip

Paradip, Jan. 25: The land acquisition process for expansion programme of Paradip-based Iffco fertiliser plant is stuck because of public protest.

The fertiliser plant authorities have failed to take possession of the required 402 acres, which have been illegally occupied by slum dwellers.

Though the company has paid Rs 90 crore towards compensation, efforts to erect a boundary wall around the site have met with resistance from local settlers.

“The fertiliser plant has come up on 1,500 acres at Musadha near Paradip. For modernisation and expansion of the plant, we are facing acute shortage of land. The company has sent a proposal for allotment of 402 acres in Bijoychandrapur, adjacent to the plant site. The district administration has sanctioned our proposal and started the process for acquisition of the land that was privately owned,” said Sibaram Behera, land officer, Iffco.

Though the technical and legal formalities have been completed, the company has not managed to take possession of the land.

The encroachers have been served with eviction notices. In the event, if the squatters do not vacate the place of their own accord, they would be forcibly evicted under the provisions of Orissa Prevention of Land Encroachment Act (OPLE), he added.

“The government is committed to provide the land to the fertiliser plant. It has given compensation award of Rs 20 lakh-per acre to the landlosers. The state-run Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation owns the land now. It would hand over land to Iffco in accordance with a lease deal,' said Nrusingha Charan Swain, special land acquisition officer.