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After 26 years, Odisha to return part of land taken for Tata project
The Odisha government on Friday decided to return 206 acres of land, earlier acquired for a Tata Steel plant near Gopalpur coast of Ganjam district, to the original landowners, officials said.
The Odisha government on Friday decided to return 206 acres of land, earlier acquired for a Tata Steel plant near Gopalpur coast of Ganjam district, to the original landowners, officials said.
The government acquired over 6,900 acres of land in Kalipalli and dozen other villages for the proposed plant in 1996. The project, however, never took off.
The decision to return the 206 acres of land to the landowners or to the legal heirs was taken at a cabinet meeting presided over by chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
“In consideration of the public interest, the government has decided to return 206.685 acre of land which remained unutilised for the last two decades,” chief secretary SC Mohapatra said after the meeting.
“The land will be handed over to the original owners or to their legal heirs as per the provision of Rule 20 of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,” the chief secretary added.
Though the land losers were compensated, the government has decided that the amount paid to the affected people would be waived, Mohapatra said.
Narayan Reddy, former CPI MLA from Chhatrapur, who had led the protest against the proposed steel plant, said the return of 206 acres of land land was not enough.
“The government should return the remaining unused land to the people. The land was acquired using strong-arm tactics and people suffered for more than two decades. Neither the steel plant nor the proposed employment of over 2,000 people happened,” he said.
