Angul, 29/8: The Rehabilitation and Periphery Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC) me ineting for Jindal Steel & Power (JSP)’s Utkal B1 & B2 Coal Mines was held here today under the Chairmanship of Revenue Divisional Commissioner (Northern Division) Shri Dr Suresh Chandra Dalai, IAS. Angul’ Collector and District Magistrate Mr Siddharth Shankar Swain, IAS, Superintendent of Police Shri Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra, IPS, Land Acquisition Officer Ms Ishanee Panda, OAS, Sub Collector Shri Baranyendu Mohanty, OAS(S), Chhendipada MLA Mr Susanta Behera, Nominee of Member of Parliament (Sambalpur) Mr Agasti Behera, Zilla Parishad Chairperson Ms Babita Pradhan, Chhendipada Block Chairperson Ms Sumitra Sahoo, Representatives of Project Affected Villagers, JSP’s Executive and Location Head Mr Hridayeswar Jha, Vice President Mr Asish Pandey, AVP (Land Acquisition) Mr Sujit Pradhan, President & Head (Group CSR) Mr Prashant Hota and other senior officials were present in the meeting.
The meeting was held peacefully, and as per the demands of the village representatives, it was decided that a camp would be held on September 10th and 20th to review the list of project displaced families (PFDs) and finalise the list. The District Collector & District Magistrate declared the Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) packages, which included Rs. 15 lakhs for house, land and early vocation, Rs. 20 lakhs compensation in place of jobs. Apart from an Ex-Gratia of Rs. 12 lakh per acre was also announced. The Collector and District Magistrate informed that this is the best R&R package so far and solicited the cooperation of the villagers by accepting the same so that the mining work can be started at the earliest.
The villagers in the meeting supported the project and assured all sorts of cooperation in the mining. However, they demanded higher compensation. The district administration solicited the cooperation of the Villagers to withdraw compensation for PDF first, in substantial numbers, and then the Ex-gratia so that the mining can start and the CSR projects will be implemented.