Orissa may soon acquire land for Posco

Orissa is planning to acquire land for the Rs 51,000-crore Posco project.

Not wanting to lag behind Karnataka,which is aggressively wooing large investments and has even cleared an ArcelorMittal steel project within a fortnight,Orissa is planning to acquire land for the Rs 51,000-crore Posco project,which has been pending since 2005.

Following a two-day review meeting of the many pending mega steel projects by state steel and mines secretary AK Dalwai last weekend,the state administration has decided to work towards acquiring the necessary land for the state’s largest industrial project in the Kujang area next month,but excluding the two trouble-hit villages,officials said here on Tuesday.

The state-run Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IIDC) will start the land acquisition process soon,the sources in the know of the development said,adding however,the company has been asked to go ahead without the Dhinkia and Gobindpur villages where a movement against land acquisition is on.

Story continues below this ad

“I don’t see any harm in beginning ground work at the proposed plant site without Dhinkia and Gobindpur,” IIDC chief general manager Srikant Kabi told said.

Kabi also said land acquisition in other villages will not be a problem after getting environmental clearance from the Centre for setting up the 12-mtpa greenfield steel mill and its captive port at Jatadhari. The Posco project is the single largest FDI proposal so far in the country.

Last week ArcelorMittal chairman LN Mittal went public with his frustration at the inordinate delays to his projects in Orissa and Jharkhand.

It can be noted that Karnataka gave its green signal to ArcelorMittal,which also has proposed a 12-mtpa steel plant in Orissa,for an over Rs 30,000-crore steel project within a month last month.

Story continues below this ad

Not just that,on Monday Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa set a three-month deadline to his chief secretary for extending clearance to the Mittal project.

The South Korean steel major,which signed an MoU with Orissa on June 22,2005,has been facing ire of the local people who have vowed not to spare their fertile land for the steel project.

Of the total land requirement of 4,004 acres for the proposed project,3,586 acres belong to the state,while the rest belong to private parties. Of the government’s 3,586 acres,2,953 acres are forest land.

Tribals of Dhinkia and Gobindpur villages,where major chunk of the land for the the plant lies,have been producing betel and cash crops in the government land for a long time While the government and Posco have been able to convince majority of these betel farmers to vacate the land,they have failed to win cash-crop farmers of the Dhinkia and Gobindpur villages.

Story continues below this ad

As many as 2,200 betel vines would be affected in three gram panchayats of Dhinkia,Gobindpur and Gada Kujang if the plant were to come up as proposed. While about 70 families owning betel vines at Nuagaon village have already received compensation at the rate of Rs 7,000 per decimal for their betel vines,others refused,the sources added.