Investors seek land in Jharkhand

Following the notification of the Rehabilitation & Resettlement (R&R) Policy recently, leading investors which had signed memorandum of understanding with the Jharkhand government had come forward to apply to the state government for land for setting up industries.

Steel giant Arcelor-Mittal recently submitted its application for over 11,000 acres in Khunti and Gumla districts to set up its proposed steel plant, power plant and resettlement colony.

Other investors like Tata Steel, Essar and Jindal also placed their land requirement before the state government recently.

Some senior state government officials here claimed that after publication of the gazette notification of the R&R policy extending a large number of facilities to land losers, it would be easier to acquire lands for prospective investors in Jharkhand.

However, opposition parties and the NGO’s working in the villages maintained that resistance would continue.

As industry sources here pointed out, after creation of Jharkhand through bifurcation of Bihar in 2000, not a single industrial unit could be established in the new state because land was not available owing to intense resistance from land holders.

The super power project of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) at Torpa, now in Khunti district, could not see the light of day because of the failure of the state government in acquiring the required lands for the project.

The power utility had spent several crores of rupees for maintaining its engineers, project office, guest house and other facilities at the site for over a decade. Later, the project was shelved. The Magadh open cast mining project of the public sector Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) was had been delayed as well for several years as the local people were reluctant to provide their land for the coal project.

The much-delayed Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy (R&R Policy) of the Jharkhand government was approved by the state cabinet on July 16. Chief minister Madhu Koda claimed after the cabinet’s approval of the R&R policy that the policy which his government had devised was the best not only in the history of Jharkhand but in the entire country.

The state government’s R& R Policy envisages a mandatory job to one family member of every family selling part or whole of its land for a development project, along with distribution of half of the two per cent of the net profit on investment among the displaced families on a pro rata basis.