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| MCL's mineral operations hit land hurdle |
| BS Reporter / Kolkata/ Angul Nov 02, 2009, 00:09 IST |
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The miming operations at the mega Bhubaneswari open cast coal project of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) may come to a grinding halt unless the villagers of Jilinda provide the land as per the agreement.
“The mine will work for a few days only. The daily production has already gone down from the normal level of 18000 tonnes to 7000 tonnes due to want of land. Practically, there is no land for the mine to operate”, said an MCL official.
According to sources, MCL has acquired 466 acres of land in the village and given appointment to 242 oustees while 21 cases are being examined. Twenty four land losers have accepted cash compensation in lieu of jobs and the remaining cases were not eligible for giving employment as per the rule.
At the time of appointment, there was an agreement between the MCL and the villagers according to which the villagers were supposed to vacate their homestead land within six months. Thereafter, the displaced villagers were to be shifted to the newly constructed rehabilitation colony at Gurujang, close to the site of the mining project. However, even after six months, not a single land loser has vacated his land so far, thereby creating land constraints for the mining project.
The coal officials have held a series of meetings with the villagers in the presence of senior state government officials but of no avail, sources said. The villagers on the other hand want the pending cases for job to be cleared and the rehabilitation site at Gurujang to be fully equipped with all the facilities. The MCL officials have apprised the district collector on the matter. The Bhubaneswari coal mine, which is run entirely through outsourcing, has a target to produce 4.5 million tonnes of coal in the current fiscal. In 2008-09, the coal production from this mine stood at 1.8 million tonnes.
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