Govt provides over 1,800 acres to VAL

Expressbuzz, Feb 12, 2009

BHUBANESWAR: Industries Minister Biswa Bhusan Harichandan has said that out of the 2,310 acres of land sought by Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) for its alumina plant at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district, 1,805.81 acres have been provided.


In a written reply to a question from Ramchandra Ulaka (Congress), the Minister said that out of this 390.29 acres were government land whereas 1,415.52 acres were private. He said that for the VAL, 814.68 acres were acquired from 562 Scheduled Tribe (ST) people.

Similarly, 2,863.99 acres were provided to Utkal Aluminium International Limited at Kashipur of which 2,153.93 acres were private land. He admitted that 848.89 acres of land was acquired for the project from 865 tribal people.

The Minister said that 1,750.08 acres of land was provided to Aditya Aluminium Limited for its plant at Kansariguda in Rayagada district. This included 1,224.22 acres private land including 779.11 acres belonging to 302 STs.

Harichandan, however, maintained that no alternative land was provided to the ST people in lieu of the ceded land.

To a question from Pramila Giri (BJP), Minister of State for Steel and Mines Pradip Amat said that 48 MoUs were signed by the State Government for establishment of steel plants in the State. Out of this, 10 are large with more than three million tonne capacity per annum. He said that direct employment opportunities for 61,000 persons will be created with the completion of the projects.

Stating that the Government is aware of opposition of people to set up industries on agricultural land, he said that priority is being given to plants on non-agricultural land.

In a written reply to a question from Dhaneswar Majhi (BJP), Harichandan said that four persons had died and 15 were injured in stampedes in Puri Jagannath temple during the last five years.