Squatters moved, Tata Steel clears land hurdle for Phase-II at Kalinganagar

Squatters had stayed put even after 12 years of land allotment to the firm for a 5-mn-tonne plant

Tata Steel has overcome the land hurdle for starting work on the second phase of its Kalinganagar project in Odisha, consisting of a steel capacity of five million tonnes.

This follows shifting of last of the squatters from the project site who continued to stay on in the villages earmarked for displacement even after 12 years of allotment of the land to the company for a mega steel plant.

The company had commissioned a three-million-tonne steel plant at the location in the first phase in November 2015. But it was unable to start work on the second phase as it did not have the full area allotted to it under its possession.

The Odisha government had allotted 3,475 acres to Tata Steel in 2004 at Kalinganagar to set up a six-million-tonne integrated steel plant in two phases.

However, land acquisition suffered a major setback when 13 tribals were killed in police firing in in 2006 while protesting their displacement to make way for the project.

With easing of the situation, the company had managed to take possession of 2100 acres land and rehabilitated 1,000 of the 1,234 families identified for displacement by the end of 2011, which helped it expedite work on the first phase of the project.

Though the company planned to start work on the second phase immediately after the completion of the first phase, it could not do so as 121 families still remained dugged in the villages that served as epicentre of resistance against the project and also home to the agitation leaders till about middle of last year.

"With consistent effort to convince these people to vacate the land, now all remaining villagers have been relocated and the entire 3,475 acres land has been made encroachment free", said a district administration official associated in the process of shifting people.

Meanwhile, Tata Steel has revised the scope of its second phase work enhancing the capacity of the module to five million tonne from 3 million tonne initially conceived. As a result, it is now reconfiguring the engineering design for phase-II which would entail establishment of a giant blast furnace, the largest in the country yet, to make required hot metal.

"The ground work for the second phase will start after the engineering designs are ready", said a source.