Paradip: Public hearing for Jindal Steel Works’ (JSW) proposed integrated steel plant near Paradip of Jagatsinghpur district was held in presence of senior officials of District Administration.
The JSW had earlier held tripartite meetings this month at the district level, and Gadakujang, Nuagaon and Dhinkia gram panchayat.
The first village-level meeting was hosted at Govindpur in Ersama block on Friday morning with participation from 200 villagers, District Administration and JSW, officials said.
District Collector Parul Patwari, Superintendent of Police Akhilesvar Singh, local MLA Raghunandan Das and others attended the hearing. Das said he would ensure that the villagers get their due.
Villagers demanded a job for at least one person from a family, construction of a sea wall to check erosion and compensation for those affected people who depend on betel vine orchards for livelihood, officials said.
Though there was huge noise at the public hearing venue, there was no such violence. Police had to chase away some of the vocal villagers who prevented others from putting forth their views in the meeting.
The JSW said alternative livelihood and employment, health and education intervention, environment and water came across as the topmost concerns among villagers. It announced a roadmap to initiate livelihood engagement for people at the project site.
The company has planned to engage 1,000 youths from the affected area across different projects in India depending on suitability and requirement.
The company has announced to spend Rs 196 crore for periphery development, Rs 57 crore for skill development of local people and Rs 52 crore for creating mangrove forest, health and drinking water projects.
The JSW has proposed a world-class 12-million-tonne-per-annum (MTPA) facility, 900 MW power plant and a captive port in 3,000 acres of land near the port town of Odisha. The company has decided to invest around Rs 50,000 crore for the project.
The POSCO site near the port town of Paradip was given by the administration for setting up of the JSW project as the South Korean steel company has withdrawn its proposed plan to set up a mega steel project.