PARADIP: Villagers of Dhinkia in Jagatsinghpur district have refused to allow GAIL (India) Limited to lay an underground natural gas pipeline through their land, alleging that the company issued two contradictory public notices regarding the purpose of the project.
The affected landowners claimed that the discrepancy raises serious questions about the transparency of the statutory consultation process and have sought a written clarification from the company.
According to villagers, GAIL issued a public notice on June 5 stating that an underground natural gas pipeline would be laid “in the interest of the general public” for transportation of natural gas. The notice invited objections from affected landowners within 21 days, following which several villagers submitted written objections.
Karunakar Swain, one of the affected landowners, said the notice informed him that although ownership of his land would remain unchanged, construction of buildings, excavation of ponds and certain other activities would not be permitted on his plot no 437 at Dhinkia once the pipeline was laid. Similar notices were served on Alok Swain, Lokanath Swain, Suresh Kumar Swain and several other villagers.
However, on July 3, GAIL issued another notice asking the landowners to appear for a hearing on their objections. Unlike the earlier notice, the second communication identified the project as the “JSW Utkal Steel Limited, Paradip Pipeline Project”.
During the hearing at the Erasama tehsil office, held in the presence of GAIL’s Competent Authority Santosh Kumar Mishra, villagers questioned the apparent contradiction between the two notices.
They argued that while the first notice described the pipeline as a public utility project, the second explicitly linked it to JSW Utkal Steel Limited. According to them, seeking objections without disclosing the actual beneficiary deprived affected landowners of a fair opportunity to present informed objections, undermining the purpose of the statutory hearing.
The villagers have demanded that GAIL issue a written explanation clarifying the inconsistency before proceeding with the project.
A senior Revenue department official said the state government has permitted GAIL to lay the underground pipeline and clarified that the land would not be acquired, with ownership remaining with the existing landholders. However, restrictions on certain activities over the pipeline corridor would apply as per the relevant provisions.
Officials of GAIL (India) Limited declined to comment on the allegations.
