With the ratification of the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2015 by Parliament, which disallows preferential treatment for giving mining leases, uncertainty looms over the future of the steel-giant POSCO, threatening the future of over 2,000 families in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha, who had given away their land for the project.
It has been almost 10 years since the South Korean steel giant signed a MoU with the Naveen Patnaik government for installing a steel plant in the state, and the project has been mired in controversy all the way. Though the state government had recommended the Centre to provide the prospecting license for the Khandhar mines to the company, the proposal could not be materialised.
This has, in turn, affected the villagers in Noilasahi and other adjoining villages of Jagatsinghpur district in Odisha. They had given away their betel vines, their only source of occupation, to the government in lieu of compensation and jobs.
"When POSCO came to our village, they had promised us a lot of benefits. But, except a little money in exchange of our betel vines, we have not yet got anything. If our problems are not resolved soon, we will once again start betel cultivation on the same land, which we had handed to the government for the POSCO project four years ago," said Niranjan Behera, a villager.
"The villagers have been adequately compensated for the land. They don't have the right to take the land because it is government land," said Satya Kumar Mallick, District Collector, Jagatsinghpur district.
But, if the Centre decides against granting the mining lease to POSCO, it will be a huge setback for the Korean steel giant and the villagers who supported it and also be a huge embarrassment for the state government.
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