JAJPUR: Employees from displaced families of Nilachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) in Kalinga Nagar have threatened to resort to economic blockade if they are not provided their pending salary, medical facilities and other allowances soon.
Nilachal Bistapita Parivar Committee president Sunaram Marandi said a total of 668 families of Sarangpur, Kasihudi, Madhapur and Khandiapasi villages were displaced due to the State-owned NINL plant. Of them, 452 people, one from each displaced family, were provided jobs in the plant. “We have not received our salary since the last 13 months and are now facing great financial hardship,” he alleged.
Marandi claimed that the plant’s managing director has been regularly receiving his salary and other perks while the employees are not being paid for more than a year. “We will stage economic blockade on Duburi-Chorda road and close all gates of the NINL if our demands are not met within a week,” he threatened.
The committee has already intimated its decision to the local MLA, Jajpur Collector and SP, Kalinga Nagar ADM and the MD of NINL. Notably, the plant was shut down in March, 2020 after the then Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Prakash Javadekar announced disinvestment of shares of six shareholders on January 8 last year.