The Hindu : Front Page : Steel majors ventilate their grievances

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Tuesday, May 06, 2008
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Steel majors ventilate their grievances

Staff Reporter

Land acquisition, law and order prove stumbling blocks, they say

Chief Secretary holds review meeting
Will overcome teething troubles: DGP

BHUBANESWAR: Land acquisition and law and order problem associated with the anti-displacement movements have emerged as the two biggest stumbling blocks for mega steel projects, which could not take off even during last three years of their arrival in Orissa. At a review meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Ajit Tripathy and attended by Director-General of Police Gopal Chandra Nanda here on Monday, industry representatives came up with a number of grievances saying that slow land acquisition process had delayed their progress.

South Korean Steel major POSCO’s proposed 12-million tonne steel plant in Jagatsinghpur and Tata Steel’s proposed six million tonne capacity plant in the Kalinga Nagar area had been delayed due to law and order problem, Mr. Tripathy admitted.

He, however, said several other factors such as mining lease, land acquisition and water contract too had affected the progress of mega projects. As per Industry Department reports, while the requirement of land for nine major steel projects is 27,879 acres, the State government has so far provided only 3,866.66 acres.

In June next, POSCO would complete three years of its formal agreement with the State government and it had sought 6,000 acres of land for project and township, but the company was given only seven acres of land.

Similarly, four companies whose progress were reviewed had not been given any piece of land.

Impact

The impact could be seen on ground. The nine companies promised an investment to the tune of Rs. 1,31,242 crore, but they actually invested only Rs. 1,519.46 crore that was 1.15 per cent. One company had not even spent a penny.

During the last three days, progress of 37 projects had been reviewed while 11 projects would come under scanner of officials on Tuesday.

Although the Director-General of Police shrugged off law and order as a major problem, Jindal Steel and Power Limited had requested the State government to set up one police station at Angul to look after law and order disturbance.

“In any newly created industrial area, such incidents (law and order problem) are not unnatural. Similar problems had cropped up against major projects in the State, we will tackle them,” Mr. Nanda said.

He said six outposts had been upgraded in industrial area and resources available there had been augmented. “If necessary, we will strengthen police presence in the disturbed areas,” Mr. Nanda said.

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