In a significant development, the Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC), Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex, has decided to reserve 100 per cent of the vacant posts in Class-IV jobs in the existing industries in Kalinga Nagar area for locals.
The KNIC, which is located in Jajpur district of Orissa, is poised to be the steel hub of India and the region has attracted mega investments from the leading domestic steel makers like Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, Visa Steel and Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL).
In a recent meeting, RPDAC held that outside candidates for the projects in Kalinga Nagar may be recruited only in case of unavailability of locals and the district administration needs to be involved in the recruitment process. Moreover, the committee decided that the recruitment of ITI personnel and engineers will be guided on a preferential basis for local people.
RPDAC is headed by the Revenue Divisional Commissioner, Orissa government and comprised of officials from the Jajpur district administration, industries present in the Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex and the representatives of the local people.
At present, eight steel companies are running their units in the Kalinga Nagar industrial complex. They are, Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL), Jindal Stainless limited (JSL), Visa Steel Limited, Mid East Integrated Steel Limited (MISL), Maithan Ispat Limited (MIL), Dinabhandu Steel & Power Limited (DSPL) and Rohit Ferro-Tech Limited while Tata Steel’s proposed 6 million tonne per annum greenfield steel project in Kalinga Nagar is yet to take off.
According to the figures compiled for 2005-06, the eight existing steel projects in Kalinga Nagar have provided direct employment to 3,685 people across technical and non-technical categories out of which 613 are from the displaced families while 1,131 persons have been drawn from Jajpur district.
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However the figures reveal that that none of the members of the displaced families benefited from indirect employment generated by any of the existing steel projects in Kalinga Nagar.
Moreover, the members of displaced families were also not absorbed in the technical as well as non-technical jobs under direct employment created by the projects of MIL and DSPL.
However, a substantial number of people from Jajpur district have been benefited both in terms of direct as well as indirect employment created by the steel units in Kalinga Nagar.
It may be noted that 635 out of the 690 indirect jobs generated by MISL in the technical category were bagged by the people from Jajpur district.
Similarly, NINL's project created indirect employment for 1,306 persons of which 887 persons absorbed were from Jajpur district. NINL which has a steel project in Kalinga Nagar spread over 2,565.42 acres, has provided direct employment to 1,059 people in the technical category out of which 53 were from displaced families, 226 from Jajpur district, 607 from Orissa outside Jajpur district and the remaining 173 from outside the state. In the non-technical segment, the steel unit employed 686 persons in all out of which 340 were from the displaced families, 341 from Jajpur district and the remaining five from other parts of the state.
Among the 1,306 jobs created by NINL in the technical category, 887 persons from Jajpur district and 419 from other districts of Orissa.
For JSL’s Kalinga Nagar project spread over 1,240 acres in Kalinga Nagar, 471 people were given direct employment in the technical category out of which 11 were drawn from the displaced families, 33 from Jajpur district, 192 from other parts of the state and the remaining 235 were recruited from outside Orissa.
In the non-technical segment, the company recruited 204 persons, out of which 93 were chosen from displaced families, eight from Jajpur district, 56 from elsewhere in Orissa and the balance 47 persons outside the state.
JSL has provided indirect employment to 2,324 persons in the technical category out of which none are from the displaced families whereas 942 are from Jajpur district, 855 from other parts of Orissa and the 527 others from beyond the state.
Similarly, among the 2,504 non-technical indirect jobs in created by the company's project in Kalinga Nagar, none are from the displaced families while 1,097 were from Jajpur district, 947 from elsewhere in Orissa and 460 from outside the state.
VISA Steel provided direct employment to 387 persons in the technical category for its project out of which 29 were from the displaced families, 124 from Jajpur district, another 203 persons from elsewhere in Orissa and the balance 31 from outside the state.