JAGATSINGHPUR:Oustees under the banner of Bhumihara Krushak Ekta Manch staged dharna outside the collectorate here on Wednesday, demanding permanent jobs in the Paradip Refinery project of IOCL.
They said 1725 families of 17 villages under Kujang tehsil had handed over their land for the oil refinery project in 1998. An amount of Rs 49 crore was paid as compensation to the oustees.
They alleged that IOCL had acquired land at a throwaway rate of Rs 80,000 per acre at a time when companies like Essar paid Rs 19.10 lakh per acre to its land losers. Besides, the people who gave up their land for the refinery project were not provided jobs in it as assured by the company.
They further alleged that IOCL has not yet implemented the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy (R&R) of 2006, and the decisions taken during the last RPDAC meeting on September 29, 2010.
The agitators threatened of paralysing work at the refinery project if permanent jobs are not provided to one member of each of the displaced families at the earliest.