ROURKELA: Opposing transfer of land to Vedanta Ltd for Jamkani coal mining project in Hemgir block, affected villagers of Jharpalam gram panchayat (GP) on Wednesday refrained from attending a meet convened by the Sundargarh administration.
The land for Jamkani coal mining project spread over four villages in Jharpalam GP was originally acquired for Bhusan Steel and Power Ltd (BSPL) around 12 years back. However in 2014, the Supreme Court cancelled 218 coal blocks including that of BSPL terming the allocation between 1993 and 2010 as illegal and arbitrary. In 2019 auction, Vedanta bagged the Jamkani coal block.
To redress grievances of affected villagers and seek their cooperation, the Sundargarh Sub-Collector had asked the Jharpalam sarpanch to arrange a meeting at the local government primary school on June 8. But the villagers refused to participate in the meeting. Accordingly, the sarpanch informed the administration about the decision and the demand of villagers for fresh gram sabha approval for Vedanta. The villagers also sought disclosure of documents regarding transfer of land to Vedanta through IDCO.
Ignoring the demand of villagers, an administrative team showed up at the venue for the meeting on the day. However, no villagers turned up. Sundargarh Sub-Collector Abhimanyu Behera said after the allocation of Jamkani coal block to BSPL was cancelled, the villagers placed their grievances like lack of peripheral development and hoped for extra benefits from the company taking over the coal operation. Keeping this in view, the administration had convened a meeting but none of the villagers turned up.
Behera said Vedanta can start mining operation as the land has been transferred to it. On the demand of villagers, he said land acquisition is done through IDCO and no fresh gram sabha approval is required.
“The affected villagers have received compensation for land and other rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) benefits. While all villagers of Lendra have shifted to the resettlement colony long back, around 100 families of Girisima and Jamkani are staying put,” informed the Sub-Collector.
The Jamkani coal mining project is envisaged to ensure cost-effective fuel security to Vedanta’s aluminum smelter plant at the nearby Jharsuguda. The coal block has extractable reserves of 114 million tonne with per annum capacity of 2.6 million tonne. garh Sub-Collector