PARADIP: A day after JSW declared a special rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) package for the project affected people, anti-industry activists alleged that the decision was arrived at without taking public opinion into consideration.
JSW announced a compensation package for people losing land in villages of Nuagaon, Gadakujang and Dhinkia gram panchayat. However, the locals said this was done without conducting a meeting with the Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC). Unhappy, villagers said their demands have not been met.
While they had asked for Rs 20,000-25,000 per decimal towards compensation for betel vine, JSW has decided to give Rs 17,500 per decimal. Labourers will get Rs 88,000 in two installments as opposed to the amount decided in the 2010 RPDAC meeting which now amounts to Rs 27 lakh per person. Similarly, prawn ghery owners will be getting Rs 2.5 lakh against the proposed Rs 5-6 lakh.
In a press release, COO of JSW Ranjan Nayak said, “The proposed compensation has emerged through a series of collaborative discussions at the district, gram panchayat and village level with extensive participation of villagers, district administration and other stakeholders to elicit public opinion.