Jindal project land acquisition on track

JSW Steel expects to wrap up land acquisition at Salboni, the site of its proposed steel plant in West Bengal, by the end of this year, company vice-chairman and managing director Sajjan Jindal said here today.

Jindal today visited Salboni, 240-odd kilometres west of Kolkata in West Midnapore district, for the first time today.

He later met Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, chief minister of West Bengal, at the Tathya Kendra hall in the Nandan cultural complex in the city.

Jindal highlighted the poor condition of National Highway 60 to Salboni and sought Bhattacharjee's help in getting it four-laned and the chief minister assured help in getting this done.

The state also promised help in getting coal mines allocated for the project, through the joint venture formed for the purpose between JSW and the West Bengal Mineral Development Corporation.

The Centre and the coal ministry would have to be approached for the mines. Most of the land for the Salboni project would come from the government and though the company had obtained the letter of intent for the purpose, it was yet to get possession of the land, Jindal pointed out.

Another 450 acres would have to be acquired from private owners and possession of 200 acres of this had already been obtained.

The new company formed to set up the Salboni steel plant would start issuing shares to the individuals who sold their land to the project as part of the compensation package worked out for persons displaced by the project.

The foundation stone to mark the commencement of project work was expected to be laid at a public ceremony in late-November, sources in the chief minister's office said.