Other States - Orissa   

Salt workers hopeful of better future

Sib Kumar Das

Lease period of salt beds given to private parties to expire by December

Photo: Lingaraj Panda

IN DISTRESS: Salt workers toiling under the hot sun at Humma on Wednesday.

HUMMA (GANJAM DT.): The landless ryots, involved in salt production near Humma, are awaiting the day when the private leases of salt beds would expire and they may get a chance to own salt beds on lease.

According to sources private lease of over 700 acres of salt bed in Ganjam district is going to expire in December this year. The landless salt workers, who have been toiling at these salt beds since generations like Kalu Das, have hopes that the State government will no more renew the private lease and hand it over on lease to landless salt workers.

The salt workers of the area have started to get united to intensify their demand for it. Yet they have the fear that the government officials may renew the lease for private parties sitting in Bhubaneswar without consulting salt workers.

The salt workers say they may oppose the move.

Salt production is quite low in Orissa. Major operational salt farms exist in Ganjam district of the State. Around 730 acres of salt beds is under the Humma Binchanapalli Salt Production and Sales Cooperative Society (HBSPSCS), which was formed in 1942. The rest salt beds are under private lease of persons who operate from outside through agents.

Salt production

Although Orissa consumes around four lakh tons of salt in a year, State's own salt production is only around 50,000 tons, according to K. Duryodhan Reddy, secretary of the HBSPSCS.

Jayashree Chemicals, a caustic soda making unit in Ganjam district, itself needs 50,000 tons of salt every year and has to procure major portion of this from outside the State. Advertisement glitz of major brands of table salt has made local salt unacceptable although HBSPSCS iodises its produce.

It has some market in rural areas that again encroached by alleged inflow of uniodised salt into the State.

Mr Reddy says long beach stretch of Orissa has the scope to make the State self-sufficient in salt production. But the salt workers are yet to be trained to adopt scientific method of salt production which includes use of sub soil saline water from sea which has more salinity than plain seawater.

Unless the State government and the Centre promote dwindling salt farming in the State, it may become an extinct trade in coming years, feel salt workers, as they are not satisfied with the income they are getting.

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