A tripartite meeting between the Angul district administration, the Mahanadi Coalfields limited (MCl) management and Hensmul villagers here on Saturday ended with a little headway as the remaining 126 occupants of the village refused to shift to a resettlement site at Gurjang provided by the State Government and developed by the MCl for the villagers of Bhubaneswari and lingaraj.
MCl CMD AN Sahay also attended the meeting to resolve the village issue which stands as an obstacle in the coal mining operations at the surrounding mines. The villagers refused to accept the conditional offer proposed by the MCl to revoke the termination order issued on the 126 employees, who had refused to vacate their dwellings as per the terms and conditions of their employment.
The company offered the villagers to shift to any place of their choice other than coal-bearing areas. However, the villagers refused it and are insisted to be shifted to the coal-bearing area Balandapassi, which is surrounded by the company’s three main mining projects, Bhubneswari OCP, lingraj OCP and Ananta OCP.
Notably, of the total of 285 Hensmul villagers, who were provided job in the company besides other benefits as a compensation package against their land, 126 had refused to shift to the allotted site. As continuous persuasion by the State administration and the MCl authorities failed to yield any result, the company had served a final five-month notice to the employees last year.
In view of the continued violation of the appointment’s terms and conditions, jobs of 126 people were terminated as per the recommendations of the Monitoring Committee on Coal Mines chaired by the State Chief Secretary.