Even as the compensation for private land has been fixed at Rs 17 lakh per acre for the locals affected by the Posco project, the rate at which the state government will allot government land to the company at its proposed site near Paradip is only Rs 25,000 per acre.
“The state government will allot government land to Posco India at the rate of Rs 25,000 per acre. The price is as per the prevailing rate in the Paradeep region in 2005 when the state government had inked an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Posco India.
The rate has been fixed in accordance with the state's Industrial Policy of 2001 and as of now, we have no plan to hike the rate of government land for the project”, industries minister Raghunath Mohanty said in response to a query in the state legislative assembly.
As many as 470 families are likely to be affected by the Posco project, the minister stated.
Besides, the project was set to impact 1877 betel vines and 31 prawn hatcheries at the project site.
According to a decision taken by the Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC) in its meeting held on July 8 this year, the rate of compensation for betel vines has been fixed at Rs 11.5 lakh per acre, Rs two lakh per acre for prawn hatcheries and Rs one lakh per acre of farm land.
Meanwhile, the state government owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco) has so far allotted 9644.64 acres of government land to 48 out of 92 companies that have entered into MoUs with the state government.
The government land has been provided to these industries at a rate ranging from Rs 25,000-Rs two lakh per acre.
In the past five years, the industries have provided employment to 24,815 people out of which 16674 are from Orissa and the remaining 8141 from outside the state.
