PARADIP: People who lost their land to the Paradip Refinery project of IOCL here staged demonstration on Monday demanding permanent jobs.
IOCL had acquired 3,300 hectares (ha) of land for its oil refinery project in 17 villages under Kujang tehsil of Jagatsinghpur district. At least `49 crore was given to the affected families as compensation against the land acquired.
At least 1,752 families of the were affected.
They alleged that that although IOCL authorities had assured to look into their demand prior to inauguration of the refinery by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, they are yet to get jobs in the project or any other benefit. The IOCL authorities had assured to settle their demand by April 25.
Similarly, the Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) Policy 2006 of the State Government is yet to be implemented by IOCL. Even the decision of Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC) to rehabilitate land losers and provide compensation as per norms has been ignored, they alleged.
They land losers also demanded training to unemployed youths and peripheral development. They threatened to paralyse Government machineries if the ICOL authorities fail to fulfil their demands. Trade union leaders Naveen Pradhan, Prakash Tripathy and Abhay Sahu, ZP member Sarada Jena took part in the demonstration.