By Our Correspondent
DHENKANAL/BHUBANESWAR: A public hearing for Rungta Mines Ltd’s Private Railway Siding under the Odapada Tahasil in Dhenkanal in Odisha held under the chairmanship of Additional District Magistrate Padmacharan Sahoo.
Odapada Tahasildar Manoj Kumar Majhi, Land Acquisition Officer Jyoti Ranjan Sahoo , NayaBhagirathipur Sarpancha Jati Nayak and affected villagers of Purbabada and Paschimabada attended the meeting.
Affected villagers apprised their demands to district administration.It may be noted here that District Collector had issued a notification in September to hold public hearing on October 12, as a result of which locals attended the hearing and put their demands and concerns.
Social Impact Assessment (SIA) process and land acquisition framework for setting up a private railway siding under the Odapada Tahasil in Dhenkanal by M/s Rungta Mines Limited are managed under the provisions of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
The project involves the construction and setup of a dedicated railway siding to serve the Rungta Mines Limited Dhenkanal Steel Plant, which is located across villages like Jharbandh, Galpada, and Tarkabeda. The infrastructure aims to streamline raw material logistics (such as iron ore and coal dispatch) away from road traffic and onto the rail network.
The railway siding infrastructure directly impacts the Odapada area in the Dhenkanal district, facilitating connectivity near the existing Meramandali railway network.
The Revenue and Disaster Management Department of the Government of Odisha issued formal notifications regarding the land acquisition and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) survey covering the designated institutional villages in the Dhenkanal district for the establishment of these industries.
As mandated by the SIA rules, a Public Hearing was conducted locally within the affected villages of the Odapada block. The primary objective is to record institutional or public objections, address the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) concerns of project-affected families, and present the findings of the SIA report prepared by the designated state authorities or empanelled agencies.
