Displaced villagers protest at the Essar steel plant site. Telegraph picture

Paradip, Feb. 22: Families displaced by the six-million-tonne Essar steel project stopped construction at the nearby site protesting against the authorities’ apparent apathy towards resettlement and rehabilitation measures.

The protesters slammed the dilly-dallying tactics of the administration and the steel-maker towards fulfilling their demands and staged a demonstration at the plant site.

Among other things, the protesters demanded immediate payment of unpaid compensation for land, implementation of their rehabilitation package and employment opportunities to the land-losing families.

They also charged that the company had taken illegal possession of government land and triggered pollution in water bodies located close to the under-construction plant. It has also felled mangrove species, thereby damaging the environment and ecology of the area.

The steel company has failed to take up the compensatory forestry project following the peripheral development programme, said Gyan Ranjan Mahapatra, a protester.

“The administration will take up the people’s demands with the Essar plant management. We are optimistic that the issues and points of differences would be sorted out shortly,” said Erasama tehsildar Sarat Kumar Purohit.

The affected land-losers squarely blamed the district administration for their plight and alleged that officials were hand in glove with the company. “The state government faced stiff resistance from the people to acquire land for the proposed Posco steel project. But here, people gave away their land voluntarily. However, the land-losers are being meted out a raw deal. Many displaced villagers are yet to be disbursed compensation for their land,” said Satya Prakash Mohanty, another protester.

“The interest of land-losers has been neglected. The Essar steel management is not keeping their commitment to give the people their dues. It had been resolved in the rehabilitation and peripheral development advisory committee meeting that Essar would complete the land acquisition and disburse compensation at the rate of Rs 19.10 lakh per acre. The company had been asked by the administration in the past to acquire land and pay compensation. But, the plant management continues to defy the order and administration is doing nothing,” he said.