Villagers demonstrate in front of Essar plant site at Bijoychandrapur on Sunday. Telegraph picture

Paradip, Aug. 5: Families of Chanda village, who have been displaced by the Essar Steel Project at Bijoychandrapur here, have staged a demonstration at the project site near this town seeking employment and revised compensation package for the loss of their land.

Registering protest against “discrimination” meted out to them, the demonstrators pressed forth the demand for a revised compensation package against the land acquired by the company. Besides, they have sought employment opportunity for each land-losing family.

“The demands of the villagers of Chanda are genuine and just. There was no direct road link to the site when the project work commenced four years ago. The company was carrying its transportation through a connecting road of the nearby Iffco plant. The Essar authorities were able to establish connectivity with their plant site only after villagers of Chanda agreed to give away their land for building a road there,” said Tofan Swain, head of Gramya Surakhya Samiti, an organisation fighting for the cause of the displaced families.

More than seventy-five families from Chanda village, who owned land in Bijoychandrapur, had given away about 22 acres to the steel company. The company had disbursed Rs 15 lakh as compensatory sum towards every acre of land acquired here. Besides, the company officials had also committed to employ one member from each of the land-losing families in their plant.

“We have been treated in an unjust manner. While the company has paid Rs 19.10 lakh as compensation for every acre of acquired land in other areas, we were disbursed Rs 4.10 lakh less for reasons we do not even know. We are running right from the doors of the local administration to the Essar company office. But, nobody seemed to take note of our grievances. None from our village have been recruited by the company either. Besides, the outstanding compensation sum is yet to be disbursed. It is insensitive on the part of the company not to honour its commitment made to us four years ago during land transfer,” said Prasant Rout, a land-loser from Chanda.

“We have taken up the grievance of the villagers with the company. The Essar authorities have been asked to sort out the matter at the earliest,” said Surajit Das, additional district magistrate, Paradip.

Despite repeated attempts, the company officials, however, were unavailable for comments.