By Our Correspondent
PARADIP/BHUBANESWAR: The Sajan Jindal led JSW Steel would face more tough time with one after another opposing the project. After Lok Shakti Abhijan convenor Prafulla Samantray and former CPI MLA Radhakanta Sethi, Supreme Court lawyer and All India Congress Committee (AICC) Legal and Human Rights Cell Odisha coordinator Susant Kumar Kanungo has opposed the proposed JSW project in Erasama block in Jagatsinghpur district.
Kanungo has petitioned Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik seeking fulfillment of 10-point charter of demands before the proposed project’s public hearing scheduled to be held on November 22.
In the petition Kanungo stated that the project is proposed to come up on land which was previously acquired for the Posco project. After South Korean steel major relinquished its proposed project, the acquired land was brought under land bank scheme of the State Government.
According to the rules if no project is set up in the acquisitioned land within five years, the land should be returned to the land owners.
But violating the rules, the State Government has transferred the same land to the JSW Utkal Steel Limited, which is unsustainable in the eyes of the law, the petitioner alleged.
Local residents of Dhinkia, Govindapur, Nuagaon and Balitutha areas in the district have decided to oppose the JSW project claiming that it would jeopardise their livelihoods, and trigger serious environmental degradation. The locals have demanded immediate cancellation of the company’s public hearing scheduled to be held on November 22, stated Kanungo.
