The hassles in the land acquisition process may delay production from the Utkal-E coal block, allotted to Tata Sponge Iron Limited, near here. Coal production from this block is now likely to resume only in early 2011 instead of the current year. Sources said 200 hectares of government land is yet to be handed over to the company for the Rs 500-crore coal mine project though the state government had earlier signed a memorandum of understanding with the company. The coal mine project was being taken up by Tata Sponge Iron in association with two other private players- Scaw Industries of Dehnkanal and SPS Sponge Iron Limited of Sundegarh.
Ujjwal Chatterjee, general manager, Tata Sponge Iron Limited said, “ The coal mine project needs about 1000 hectares of land out of which 600 hectares are private land. Of the remaining 400 hectares, 200 hectares are forest land while the rest 200 hectares are government land under the Chhendipada tehsil.”
He said 6(1) notification under the Land Acquisition Act has been issued and 7(1) notification is in the process. The company has deposited Rs 64 crore with the state government for private land acquisition. On acquisition of forest land, he said, the matter is under the consideration of the local divisional forest officer. “Once we get the forest clearance and complete the process of land acquisition, we will make no delay in initiating production from this coal block which was allotted to us in 2006”, he added.
The Rs 500-crore coal mine project would affect about 500 families in five affected villages.