Action taken by the Angul district administration to clear encroachments from a Government land acquired long back by the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) for coal mining has given a new lease of life to the 6 MTY capacity Jagannath open cast mine in Talcher coalfields.

For about last one year, Jagannath mine under MCL’s Jagannath Area was unable to advance due to illegal obstructions caused by illegal occupants of Government land, causing loss of coal production and off-take to the tune of 2 million tonne during current financial year.

With the active help of police under the supervision of the SP Angul, at least 15 families illegally occupying the Government land near Rakas village were shifted to the temporary accommodations at the Central Colony, before clearing about 15 acre Government land which was acquired by the MCL.

The MCL also arranged for transportation and fooding for the evicted families.

MCL, in March 2019, had sanctioned ex-gratia in favour of these landless families as per provisions of R&R policy of the State at Rs 1.2 lakh per family equivalent to the prevalent rate of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana/Biju Pucca Ghar. In addition, the MCL has also provided Rs 1 lakh to each family for relocation.

However, a local political activist namely Murlidhar Sahu along with his few supporters launched protest at the site and created obstruction in the work of the Government authorities, following an eviction notice under Section (12) of CBA Act, 1957, served to the illegal occupants in July this year.

After police detained the protesters to complete the eviction work, all coal mines in Talcher coalfields were forcibly closed by local political affiliates. Meanwhile, the stalling of mining operations in the Balram opencast project due to stalemate between Danara and Solada villages entered the 10th day on Saturday. Due to this, coal supply of about 15,000 tonne to various consumers was affected daily from the Balram OCP.