Chhattisgarh has no plans to return land alloted to projects now abandoned

The Chhattisgarh government has clarified that it has no plans to return land alloted to projects that have now been abandoned. The government had earlier returned the land it had acquired for Tata Steel’s Bastar project.

The state government had bought 1,764 hectares of land from 1,707 farmers in Lohandiguda to set up a mega greenfield steel plant for which Tata Steel had inked a deal with Chhattisgarh in June 2005.

In 2016, Tata Steel dropped the plan. Soon after coming to power, the Congress government ordered returning the land to farmers.

The development brought a ray of hope for the farmers whose lands were acquired for four major projects. Besides Moser Baer and Visa power, land had been acquired from villagers for IFFCO and South Korean company Daewoo. None of the companies expedited plans and finally pulled out.

While responding to media queries in Sarguja on Tuesday, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said the state government had no plan to return the land. “We would let you know if we come up with any such plan,” he added.

The state government had acquired about 440 hectares of land for the 1320-Mw Surajpur supercritical thermal power plant proposed by a joint venture between Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company Limited (CSPGCL) and Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO).  The project had received an environmental clearance in 2012.

The land aquired for the project is spread over five villages, including Premnagar, Chandanagar, Namna, Raghunathpur and Abhaypur, inhabited by 1386 families. It now appears that the project has been shelved.