ROURKELA : Trouble is brewing for Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) of SAIL over the issue of fake displaced persons landing jobs at RSP. If the Union Steel Ministry orders a CBI probe as recommended by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribe (NCST), the wrong doings committed by unscrupulous revenue and RSP officials several decades ago would come to light.
There are ample evidences to indicate that numerous impersonators faking as land oustees had landed jobs at RSP and many of them have retired. Yet, the real trouble for RSP would be to explain why it failed to take actions against those employees securing jobs fraudulently.
Lachhu Oram, a displaced person and petitioner to NCST, said information obtained under RTI from RSP indicated that a native of Chittagon in Bangladesh along with numerous undeserving persons of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar besides Mayurbhanja, Cuttack, Ganjam, Balangir, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal and Sambalpur districts impersonating as displaced persons procured jobs at RSP.
He also accused the RSP of ‘deliberately and dishonestly’ trying to hide truth as details of displaced job beneficiaries were not given with proper land details.
Accusing RSP of playing trick with the Government and oustees, displaced persons’ leader Mangra Oram claimed that during 1994-95 under a Supreme Court order, about 4,000 contract workers on separate eligibility criteria were regularised, but RSP showed a part of them as displaced persons. It has also come to light that unscrupulous officials of the Revenue Department and RSP again fraudulently included many ineligible persons in the list of 1,098 displaced job claimants. The list was finalised in 1993 by the Supreme Court, Oram alleged.
NCST Chairman Rameshwar Oraon in his report of November 11 had recommended for a CBI or high-level probe into the issue. “It seems either the RSP authority is not honest in giving details of displaced persons who were given employment or there was a racket working in RSP in the name of giving employments to displaced persons,” Oraon observed in his report.
Rourkela ADM Monisha Banerjee said the RSP claimed to have given about 6,000 jobs to displaced persons, but it could provide list of about 3,000 employees.
The issue of fake persons working in place of displaced persons has created a mess and to clean it up, the administration apprised the NCST of factual position for taking appropriate action, she added.
When contacted for comments, RSP’s Chief of Communication Ramendra Kumar sought time for it.