File picture of villagers protesting against the Posco project work

Paradip, May 23: The state government has constituted a task force to clear hurdles in the way of land acquisition and other related work to give a push to the much-delayed Posco steel project.

Jagatsinghpur district administration officials said the state government was keen to address reservations that the landlosers at the project site villages had over the resettlement and rehabilitation package.

The task force, which is headed by the revenue divisional commissioner (central) and consists, among others, of the chairman-cum-managing director of the state-run Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation, will also make periodic reviews of the progress of work on what is widely considered the country’s biggest foreign direct investment.

“It would be a coordinating agency that would act steadfastly to resolve the resettlement and rehabilitation issues affecting the landlosers. The anti-Posco environment is steadily changing in the villages on the project site. The principal grouse of the people concerns revision of the compensation and rehabilitation package. The government has taken note of it. The issues will be sorted out amicably,” Arabinda Padhee, revenue divisional commissioner (central), told The Telegraph.

“At a high-level meeting chaired by the revenue divisional commissioner (central) yesterday, issues related to people’s resistance against the project and the rehabilitation package were deliberated upon. The meeting was a positive step towards settling pending grievances of the landlosers and expeditious resumption of project-related work,” said Narayan Chandra Jena, Jagatsinghpur collector.

While the task force would take stock of the ground situation at the project area periodically, its main focus would be on protecting the larger interest of the landlosers who have reservations about the present rehabilitation package.

Posco’s decision not to acquire land from unwilling landowners has sent positive signals that might pave the way for resumption of work on the big-ticket steel project. With the wind now blowing in Posco’s favour, winning people’s confidence and garnering support for the project should be a comparatively easy task, said senior officials of the Jagatsinghpur district administration.

“The present status of the mega venture and the bottlenecks that still plague it were discussed threadbare at the review meeting. We are optimistic about things moving in the right direction,” said Padhee. The officer said a meeting would be held soon to revise the compensation package.

For its proposed 12 million tonne per annum project, the South Korean company required 4,004 acres. Of this 3,566 acres was government and forestland and 438 acres was in private hands. The administration has already acquired nearly 2,000 acres in Gadakujang and Nuagaon gram panchayats while the steelmaker has pressed for another 700 acres to begin the first phase of construction.

As the land in Dhinkia and Gobindpur earlier earmarked for the steel project has now been excluded from the project boundary, the resistance against resumption of work on the project has weakened. The majority of people in Gadakujang and Nuagaon were in favour of the project. However, they had turned against it over the resettlement issue. With the government deciding to amicably settle the rehabilitation demands of people in these areas, the work would now move in the right direction, said officials.

On an optimistic note, Padhee said: 'I will visit the project villages shortly to gain the people's confidence.' The government was keen to send across the message that the government was people-friendly, he said.