KALINGA NAGAR: A day after VISA Steel shut down its 0.5 million tonne plant at Kalinga Nagar, the district administration swung into action to break the deadlock among stakeholders on Tuesday.
Jajpur Collector Ranjan Kumar Das convened a high-level meeting which was attended by Sukinda MLA Priti Ranjan Ghadei, VISA Steel director Manoj Kumar, Kalinga Nagar ADM Adul Alim Khan, District Labour Officer (DLO) Siva Sankar Mishra and Sub-Collector Narayan Chandra Dhal.
Das informed that the meeting was fruitful and all the stakeholders have decided to comply with all the decisions taken in the meeting.
‘’They will, henceforth, not resort to any sort of blockade,” the Collector said and added that normalcy in the transportation of raw material like iron ore and chromite has been restored by Tuesday evening.
After clearance given by the Sukinda MLA, chrome ore transportation started but supply of iron ore will take some time as all weigh bridges in Odisha Mining Corporation’s Daitari mines are out of order.
It was resolved that VISA Steel authorities would adhere to the decisions taken in the meeting. The plant authorities have reportedly given an undertaking to the Collector that the 63 retrenched workers would be reinstated while those transferred outside the State would be called back.
This apart, the authorities have agreed to supply piped drinking water to residents of the plant’s periphery areas and set up a dispensary at Jakhapura as part of its CSR activities.The plant management will also provide employment to locals and abide by all pollution norms.The Collector said allegations that a letter bearing forged signatures of workers submitted to the DLO stating they would not resort to any union activities would be probed.“I have asked the DLO to enquire and submit a report within a week,” said Collector Das.