As many as 141 families will be displaced for the expansion of chromite mines of the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) in Kaliapani village of Jajpur district.
It was decided in the Rehabilitation Periphery Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC) meeting at Jajpur Road last week that the authorities will build a rehabilitation colony over 30 acres of land or the displaced persons. The authorities will also provide proper compensation to all the displaced persons, said RDC Arabinda Padhee after attending the RPDAC meeting.
The chromites company of OMC had acquired the lands of a large number of tribals six years back for mining. At the time of land acquisition, the OMC had promised to provide jobs to the displaced persons. But the OMC is yet to provide jobs to many displaced persons, alleged many locals in the meeting.
large scale of illegal mining of chromites by many companies have been posing serious danger to the villagers of Kaliapani, Puranapan, Bhimatangar and other villages in Sukinda block. Mine mafias have also been illegally taking away chromites from the bottom of the hill under the very nose of the authority as a result the hill is now on the verge of collapse, alleged Mina Beshra.
"Without doing any developmental works in our villages, many companies have been mining chromites. We demanded an immediate halt to the mining but the authority did not pay any heed,” said Mahanta of Kaliapani village.
“In RPDAC meeting on Saturday, we decided to sort out land acquisition, compensation, rehabilitation and other environmental and industrial issues,” said Sukinda MlA and former Minister Prafulla Ghadei.
He also demanded permanent jobs for local youth with proper salary in the chromite mine and other companies in Kalinganagar and its nearby areas.
The meeting was attended by OMC chairman Saswata Mishra, District Collector Anil Kumar Samal, Sukinda block chairperson Bhagabati Mohant and Sub Collector Maheswar Panigrahi among others.