Non-tribals hold key to Torpa steel project

Groups opposed to the proposed steel plant of ArcelorMittal at Torpa are gearing up to oppose the project, but those in favour of it are hoping that the company will take the path of least resistance and proceed to set up the project on land owned by communities eager to part with it.

It is no coincidence that most of the willing land sellers are non-tribals who own plots to the south-west of Torpa on the road leading to the town of Simdega, where the highway crosses the Koel and Karo rivers.

Nonetheless, a group opposing the project held a rally on the outskirts of Torpa on February 2.

The rally was organised by a group called the Koel Karo Jana Sanghatana under Shyama Munda, a man seen to be an independent with BJP leanings.

"The gathering was not very large, around 300 people at most, as Saturday is a market day," said Satish Sharma, a professional and trader in Torpa.

Sushila Karketa, the Congress MP from Khunti, the constituency in which Torpa fall, favours the project but added a word of caution: "We are trying to take the project ahead as swiftly as possible, and we will try to see that the least opposition is encountered."

"We will work with people who are not opposed to the project and will try to preserve the interests of those who are opposed to it," she added.

"I hope they go for land that mostly belong to non-tribals because I feel they are not bound by the politics of the local congregation and can exercise their free judgement to sell the land," said local restaurant owner Jagat Ghosh.

Nonetheless, the opposition cannot be ignored.

As Sharma puts it, there would be considerable resistance from some religious congregations but the nature of the opposition would depend on the exact plots being taken over following finalisation of the plant premises. This, he said, was some way off.

A Jana Sanghatana leader said in response, "Some people may be eager to sell but we will oppose it nonetheless as it threatens local life and will ruin the area with pollution and other ills that happen in any industrial township."

However, the supporters of the project say no group can stop those willing to sell land, but admit that other options, like blocking the highway to stop movement of goods, are open to those opposed to it.

Men like Sharma and Ghosh point out that what was more important was the list of people who stayed away from the February 2 rally.

These included N E Horo, former MP and former minister of undivided Bihar, and president of the Jharkhand Party.

Horo had taken a leading role in the successful agitation against the Koel Karo project and his Jharkhand Party was said to be committed, at least on paper, to resists the land acquisition for the Mittal project.

Also absent was local MLA Koche Munda of the BJP from Torpa who, while not actively campaigning in favour of the project, was refusing to endorse the movement against it.

There was one more problem: the failure of the Jharkhand government to come up with a resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) policy has made land owners reluctant to sell land through direct negotiations.

"How can we sell just now. The policy may give better terms," says Ghosh.