Posco, which is setting up a 12 million tonne per annum integrated steel plant near Paradip, has sought the cooperation of the district administration in expediting the process of land acquisition for its project.
The land acquisition for the $12 billion (around Rs 55,000 crore) project is set to kick off next month in Dhinkia and Gobindpur villages in Jagatsinghpur district.
The district administration has decided to acquire land by demolition of betel vines raised by the locals on the encroached forest land. The administration will hold talks with the local villagers and compensation will be paid against loss of betel vines.
The decision to set in motion the land acquisition process for the Posco project was taken at a meeting held at Jagatsinghpur on Saturday.
The meeting chaired by Gyanranjan Dash, the district collector, was held in the presence of Saroj Kumar Mohapatra, general manager (human resources), Posco India; S K Singh, the company's project manager for Kujang; Surjeet Dash, the district land rehabilitation officer and Nrusingh Swain, the special land acquisition officer.
Earlier, the district administration had decided to conduct the meeting of the Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC) to finalize the compensation package for the Posco project.
The Posco steel project needs 4004 acres of land out of which 3586 acres are government land. Within the patch of government land, 2953 acres are forest land.
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The villagers of Dhinkia and Gobindpur have encroached on this forest land and cultivating betel leaves, cashew, and other crops.
Sources said, more than 2200 betel vines would be affected in Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gadkujang panchayts by the proposed Posco steel plant.
It may be noted that hundreds of betel vines have already been demolished in Nuagaon in 2007-08 during the course of economic survey conducted by Posco. These betel vines were uprooted as the people of Nuagaon backed the Posco project. However, Posco has paid compensation to only 75-80 families out of the 700-odd families of Nuagaon.
Posco had allegedly paid Rs 10,000 per decimal to these 75-80 families as against Rs 6000 per decimal of land which a beneficiary is entitled to as per the state Rehabilitation & Resettlement (R&R) policy.
Thereafter, the district administration stopped the disbursement of compensation to avert any disturbance at the Posco site.
It has been decided that Rs 7000 per decimal will be paid to the locals against loss of betel vines, said a revenue official.