By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/PARADIP: Even though South Korean Steel major, POSCO, returned empty handed from Odisha, but it seems, otherwise for India’s No-1 Steel Maker, Sajjan Jindal led JSW Steel in this mineral rich and coal bearing eastern Indian State.
This was evident from the scenes from State’s Jagatsinghpur district on Wednesday, when dozen over betel vines farmers offered to donate their land for the JSW Steel’s mega project close to Paradip Port and the administration swung into action in time to take possession of land for the Steel project.
Erasama block Tahasildar CP Das said, 11 betel vines were dismantled at the JSW steel project site at Govindapur village in the district. The local Tahasildar claimed that the locals were impressed with the special RR packages of the company. Local sources said, some 15 villagers were earlier agreed to donate their betel vines land while 11 turned up during demarcation and measurements . Sources said, since the outbreak of COVID-19, betel vines farmers of Jagatsinghpur were facing a lot of hardship and with JSW Steel giving them alternative livelihood, locals are now started realising the fruits of industrialisation in their locality.
JSW, the leading steelmaker of India had already declared its compensation package for the project affected people with ration card in the land losing villages of Nuagaon, Gada Kujang & Dhinkia GP, for its Integrated Steel Plant at Paradip. The compensation announced is way above the policy provisions outlined in the Rehabilitation & Resettlement Policy, Government of Odisha, 2006. The proposed compensation has emerged through a series of collaborative discussions at the district, GP and village level with extensive participation of villagers, district administration and other stakeholders to elicit public opinion.
Appropriate Compensation for Betel Vines For loss of betel vines, compensation of Rs. 17500 per decimal has been declared. This is way above the government provision of Rs. 6,000/- per decimal, charted out in the Govt. R&R policy. Additionally, a bonus of Rs 50,000/- per betel vine, irrespective of size, provided it is demolished within a fortnight of announcement in the said village, has been declared.
For the first time, a differential compensation of Rs. 6000 per decimal is offered to all the old betel vine owners, who earlier received Rs. 11,500 per decimal, has been announced. For wider and inclusive coverage all the ration card holders in the eight land losing villages- namely Polang, Bayanalakandha, Jatadhara, Nuagaon, Gobindpur, Patana, Dhinkia and Mahala; who have not received Betel vine compensation or have not received any labour compensation earlier from erstwhile projects, betel vine labour compensation of Rs 88,000 – Rs 44,000/- as one-time financial assistance after demolition of all betel vines and Rs 44,000/- balance as additional bonus after completion of boundary wall of the entire project area has been offered.
For the villages from where betel vines have already been removed, eligible families will be paid Rs 44,000/- after the demarcation of the boundary wall in the said village and rest 44,000/- after the boundary construction for the project is complete.
Each Family under the Jangal Surakhya Committee will be paid Rs 50,000/- and the number of the families associated with the Jangal Surakhya Committee will be selected based on the records and proceedings of the committee for past three years. One representative member per Ration card holding family will be eligible for this compensation and the amount will be disbursed after completion of the tree felling.
Jindal South West Steel is among the largest steelmakers in the world with a current capacity of 24.5 MTPA. It is listed in S& P Dow Jones Sustainability index for emerging markets for Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) initiatives. The steel giant is expanding its steel-making capacity to 36.5 MT by March 2024. In Odisha, JSW Steel operations include a 2.5 MTPA subsidiary BPSL, 30 MT iron ore mines, 5 MT cement plant and 50 MT iron ore & coal terminal at Paradip port. JSW has proposed expansion of its brownfield project from 2.5 MTPA to 10 MTPA in a phased manner. The Paradip greenfield steel plant with 13.2 MTPA capacity is proposed with a 900 MW captive power plant, 10 MT cement plant and 12 MTPA jetty at Paradip.
