| JSPL will set up a 6-million tonne steel plant and a 900-Mw captive power plant besides opening up a coal mine at Utkal block near Angul. The company requires 5,750 acres in Angul and Chhendipada tehsil for its venture. |
| A total of 35 villages will be affected by the projects. While the progress on acquisition of 1,180 acre of government land is on the track, the progress in private land acquisition is disappointing, said one JSPL official. |
| JSPL was in possession of about 80 per cent of the government land and the rest will be made available within three months, said the source. Out of its total private land requirement of about 3,700 acre, the company initially needs 2,778 acre on which notification under Sec 6(1) of the Orissa land acquisition Act was issued long back. |
| Compensation payment to tenants was yet to be completed though JSPL deposited about RS 60 crore in October and December 2006 with the local authorities for compensation payment to tenants of about 14 affected villages. |
| The reason for the delay in disbursement of land compensation was slow progress in completion of "yadas" (establishment of legal heir to receive the payment) in all the 14 villages. |
| Till date only half of the amount has been paid to land losers, besides a government charge of Rs 5.5 crore, said the source. |
| Angul Collector Girish S N admitted slow progress in payment of land compensation. |
| He said there was no settlement in those areas after 1962. "So it is difficult to complete the process to finalise the legal awardees to receive the compensation," he said. Care was being taken to identify the actual heir after multiple verifications and scrutiny. |
| "Any error in this legal work would invite court cases ultimately hampering the project and deny justice to the deserving, he said. |
| The collector said the compensation payment process had been expedited and would be over in two months. |
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