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Construction work at Indo-Russian titanium project resumes

BERHAMPUR: The civil construction work of the Indo-Russian titanium SEZ project near Gopalpur port in Ganjam district began again from Sunday. Following a group clash over labour employment the Ganjam district administration on June 12 had ordered the company to stop construction work till further orders. The district administration and police said company officials had not informed them about the start of construction work which led to escalation of tension near Kanamana village on June 11.

To sort out the problems that were coming up in the path of start of civil construction work of the company, a high-level meeting was held at Chatrapur on Saturday. The meeting was attended by Additional District Magistrate Madan Mohan Deo, members of the peace committee formed in the area, police officials and representatives of the joint venture company including chairman of the Saraf Agencies Private limited P.V.S.Mani.

It may be noted that Saraf Agencies Pvt Ltd of India has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with two Russian state-run agencies for the proposed SEZ. The project to be established at a cost of around Rs. 2000 crores will produce titanium from ilmenite ore.

At this meeting it was decided that the company would make survey and prepare a list of persons from 256 families, who have lost their land for the project. These persons would be employed during the construction work of the project. They would also be provided identity cards by the company. It was decided that after giving work to these families on priority basis, if needed more labourers would be employed from nearby Kanamana and Chamakhandi areas only. All citizens’ representatives and affected families wanted the work of the project to start as development of the area was attached to this project.

Speaking to newsmen after the meeting Mr Mani said they plan to start production of the company by the end of 2009.

It may be noted that over 250 acres needed for the plant of the project has been already handed over to the company to start construction work. But the total SEZ project would be spread over 550 acres with ancillary units related to titamium. Rest of the land for the project is also being acquired. Allied industries like paints and pharmaceuticals are expected to set up base in this SEZ so that they can get easy access to titanium.

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