Public hearing for JSW steel plant in Odisha

484
2
Public hearing for JSW steel plant in Odisha

The public hearing was held for Jindal Steel Works' proposed integrated steel plant in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur district.

The JSW has proposed a world-class 12 million-tonne per-annum MTPA facility, a 900 MW power plant and a captive port in 3,000 acres of land at an estimated cost of Rs 50,000 crore.

The POSCO site near the port town of Paradip was chosen by the administration to start the JSW project as the South Korean steel company has withdrawn its plan to set up a mega steel project.

The JSW had earlier held tripartite meetings at district level, and Gadakujang, Nuagaon and Dhinkia gram panchayat.

The first village-level meeting was held in Govindpur in Ersama Block on Friday morning with participation from 200 villagers, district administration and JSW, the steel conglomerate said in a release.

Parul Patwari, Superintendent of Police Akhilesvar Singh, Local MLA Raghunandan Das and others attended the hearing. Das said he would make sure the villagers get their due.

Villagers wanted to have a job for at least one person from a family, the construction of a sea wall to check erosion and compensation for those affected who depend on betel vine orchards for their livelihood, officials said.

There was huge noise at the public hearing venue, but there was no such violence, a police official said.

Some of the vocal villagers who prevented others from putting out their views in the meeting had to be chased by police.

Alternative livelihood and employment, health and education intervention, environment and water came across as the topmost concerns among villagers, according to the JSW. There is a roadmap to initiate livelihood engagement for people at the project site.

According to the firm, 1,000 youths from the affected area will be recruited across different JSW projects in India based on suitability and requirement.

The company will spend Rs 196 crore for periphery development, Rs 57 crore for skill development of local people and Rs 52 crore for mangrove forest, health and drinking water projects.

In October, 25 lakh tonnes were produced.