Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel announced on Monday that the land of farmers acquired by Tata Steel in Lohandiguda region of Bastar region would be returned by the State Government to the farmers.
The Chief Minister while reminding the promise made by him to the farmers directed the officials to start implementation of his order and bring forth a proposal in his next Cabinet meeting for its approval.
It may be recalled that Baghel had assured the farmers that their land will returned to farmers during visit of AICC President Rahul Gandhi in the past.
He had stated that the land acquired from farmers would be returned to them if no industrial unit is established within five years.
The Chief Minister has directed officials to immediately start procedure for returning land of farmers of 10 villages.
Notably, Tata Steel had acquired the land in February 2008.The villages where the land was acquired are- Chidgaon, Kumhali, Beliyapal, Badanji, Dabpal, Badeparoda, Belar , Takraguda and Sirisguda
As per available details, around 2000 hectares of land was acquired for TATA project in February 2008 and December 2008. As land being in Scheduled Tribe area, the company could not purchase it directly from tribal farmers. State government had acquired to for the company, while company paid the compensation.
The affected villages were Chindgaon, Kumhali, Beliyapal, Bandaji, Daabpal, Badeparoda, Belar and Sirisguda of Lohandiguda teshil, villages of Takraguda under Tokapal Tehsil.
As per details, Tata Steel was to establish 5.5 million tonne per annum (MTPA) green field integrated steel plant and had signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government in June 2005 with an investment of about Rs 19500 crore.
The MoU was extended but finally ended in June 2016, when company did not seek further extension. The company was allotted 2,500 hectares of iron ore mine in Bailadila Deposit 4 in 2008 for supply of raw material to the proposed steel plant. It is said that due to multiple factors in land acquisition and protest from local people, the project could not take off.
Meanwhile, company also lost the mine of estimated reserve of 108 million tonnes of high grade iron ore as it could not commence mining in stipulated time frame. The government then could not allocate the mine due to the amended Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation Act 2015, which stipulates auction as the only mode for mine allocation.