Posco to treat encroachers on a par with the displaced

Compensation to squatters would push up land acquisition cost.

Posco India, which is looking to set up a 12-million-tonne steel plant near Paradeep in Orissa, has decided to treat the encroachers squatting on the government land earmarked for its project on a par with the project-displaced persons for rehabilitation and resettlement purposes.

If implemented, Posco’s bonanza for encroachers is expected to create a new trend in the realm of rehabilitation and resettlement of project-affected persons in Orissa. Interestingly, the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy of the state government is completely silent on any compensation package to the encroachers.

Apart from “house for house” to the encroachers in the rehabilitation colony, the company has assured them of providing employment in the project work. Similarly, in case of a delay in finding suitable jobs for these people, the company has agreed to pay them a subsistence allowance of about Rs 3,000 per month in line with the minimum wage norms of the state government.
 

THE NEW RULE

* If implemented, Posco's bonanza for encroachers is expected to create a new trend in the realm of rehabilitation and resettlement of project-affected persons in Orissa

* Apart from ‘house for house’ to the encroachers in the rehabilitation colony, the company has assured them employment in the project work

* In case of delay in finding suitable jobs for these people, the company has agreed to pay them a subsistence allowance of about Rs 3,000 per month in line with the minimum wage norms

* The encroachments are not concentrated and occur in a scattered manner, dotting a large tract of the project site

* Besides building houses on the government land, the squatters are earning their livelihood through prawn gheri  and betel vine operations

According to the preliminary surveys, of the total 466 families going to be displaced by the Posco project, 232 families are illegal squatters on government land, which amounts to 3,566 acres out of the 4,004 acres required for the project. The encroachments are not concentrated and occur in a scattered manner, dotting a large tract of the project site. Hence, eviction of encroachment was crucial for the company to start construction work, said a source.

Besides building houses on government land, the squatters are earning their livelihood from this patch through prawn gheri and betel vine operations. To compensate them on this front and lure them to dismantle these illegal establishments, the company has decided to pay the squatters Rs 7,000 per decimal of betel vine cultivation and Rs 1 lakh per acre of prawn gheri, in line with the government guidelines.

Meanwhile, all these compensations — along with an estimated Rs 100 crore the company has to fork out towards net value of trees and compensatory afforestation required to obtain Stage II forest clearance for the project — are expected to push up its land acquisition cost substantially.

While, on paper, the cost of government land is only Rs 25,000 per acre, the cost of acquisition of government land was expected to shoot up to Rs 6-7 lakh per acre when the compensation the company has to pay to the squatters and for forest clearance was also taken into account, sources added.

Still, it would be a bargain for Posco when this is compared with the Rs 30-40 lakh per acre being demanded by locals for acquisition of private land.