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JSW proposes to spend Rs 1,500 crore during the first phase with an handling capacity of 8.4 million tonnes. Subsequently the investment will increase to Rs 10,000 crore to raise the handling capacity to 16.7 million tonnes in phases. JSW Infrastructure is currently operating Jaigarh port in Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra, Dharamtar jetty in Raigad district, Maharashtra and port in Goa. A section of villagers on Sunday staged a ‘rasta roko’ and made JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal to give a signed letter on plain paper that JSW Infastructure on its own was withdrawing from the project.
He went on to add that “No project will come here and no donation will be given for any school or hospital.” Copy of Jindal’s handwritten letter submitted to agitated villagers is in the possession of Business Standard. Jindal was returning to the helipad after visiting its steel plant in the nearby Tarapur industrial estate.
When contacted JSW official, who did not want to be named, admitted the Sunday’s incident. He told Business Standard, “'The company is currently in the midst of getting necessary statutory clearances. There won't be displacement of any house neither there will be any forceful acquisition of land.”
A state government official declined to comment on the incident saying that the company was pursuing approvals from various agencies. He recalled that a public hearing took place on August 7 near the project site.
However, Shree Naik, local BJP leader questioned the project site in view of its proximity to the Tarapur atomic power station. '”The project poses a major security risk. Therefore, the government should reconsider the project development at site and till then the opposition to the project will continue,'” he noted.
