Kalinganagar sees light and allows Tatas to build its infrastructure; Paradeep/Kujanga/Dhinikia in the right path with POSCO; Puri and Kalahandi still have their head buried in the sand
Aluminium, Anil Agarwal, Bauxite, Bhubaneswar- Cuttack- Puri, Iron Ore, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jajpur Rd- Vyasanagar- Duburi- Kalinganagar, Kalahandi, Paradip - Jatadhari - Kujanga, POSCO, Puri, Steel, Tatas, TOI, Economic Times June 17th. 2010, 7:05pmFollowing is from an article by Nageshwar Patnaik in Economic Times. Nageshwar is a big critic of the Tatas. So coming from him, I give a lot of value to the article.
Buoyed by successful resettlement of displaced persons after five years, Tata Steel, which is setting up a 6-mtpa steel plant at Kalinga Nagar in Orissa’s Jajpur district, has undertaken massive infrastructure development work at the project site to get support of the local people, especially the tribals.
Under its Tata Steel Parivar resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) programme, the leading steel producer of the country has laid 20 km of quality motorable roads connecting all rehabilitation colonies, besides constructing 32 km of drainage system at adjoining tribal-dominated villages such as Trijanga, Sansailo and Gobarghati.
As many as 300 sodium vapour halogen lamp posts have been installed and pipe water provision made to provide better life to the displaced people living in rehabilitation colonies.
Each colony in the project area has a dispensary, community centre and several education centres offering management and technical courses.
“The Tata Steel Parivar rehabilitation scheme at Kalinga Nagar provides substantially better facilities than the government-framed R&R policy. The government policy provides employment for one member from each core household. On the other hand, Tata Steel Parivar policy provides employment opportunities for each major member of the core house. It also provides training facilities for technical skill upgrade,” a press statement, issued by the company here on Thursday, said.
The release also noted that scholarships were being provided for displaced persons pursuing higher education in professional fields such as medicine, engineering and management.
“An amount of Rs 2.21 lakh is also provided as onetime assistance in lieu of employment. Further, under the Tata Steel Parivar policy, each family is given a monthly maintenance allowance of Rs 2,000-2,300 till they get employment in the plant whereas the policy stipulates payment of maintenance allowance for 12 months only,” it added.
The opposition in Kalinganagar has finally seen light and allowed the Tatas to build the infrastructure of Kalinganagar. Related to this, The Telegraph of UK has apologized to the Tatas for their negative coverage.
Things also seem to be going in the positive direction in the POSCO front and I hope the people there visit Tata’s colonies in Kalinganagar and demand and get similar or better facilities and form a positive partnership with POSCO. In addition the Odisha government should push POSCO in developing a POSTECH like University in Paradeep.
However, there is not much progress with respect to Vedanta Aluminum in Kalahandi or Vedanta University in Puri. Here again it would be wise for the people there to visit Tata’s colonies Kalinganagar and demand and get similar or better facilities and form a positive partnership with Vedanta. But the time may be running out for Puri as Vedanta University Project has indicated that it may give up and move south where it will be welcomed with open arms. If that happens it would of course be a mistake of a century for Puri and Odisha.
In regards to the Arcelor-Mittal and Keonjhar the company really has not made much visible effort to woo the people.
June 22nd, 2010 at 9:44 am
We do not want any more agitation. We only want Kalinganagar to be a developed for the localites. This is an appeal from the local people. For details please check http://www.kalinganagar.com/pdf/members-of-kalinganagar-orissa.pdf
June 23rd, 2010 at 6:40 am
As a source of information, I came across this link which is an appeal from the tribals of Kalinga Nagar, Jajpur, Orissa to the Human Rights Commission, pleading for intervention to stop the arranged agitations in Kalinganagar. This might show you the other side of the coin.
http://www.kalinganagar.com/pdf/from-the-tribals-of-kalinganagar-jajpur-orissa.pdf
June 24th, 2010 at 8:01 am
This story is worth sharing – Tata Steel at Kalinganagar sets new benchmark in R&R – http://sify.com/finance/tata-steel-at-kalinganagar-sets-new-benchmark-in-r-r-news–news-kgvbOugcdbi.html
June 25th, 2010 at 6:44 am
If things will go positive then it will bring good to all. As to share few very important information :
“They are doing great job at that place and they are really helping people. The following details is worth sharing – The commitment of the corporate towards the rehabilitated “Tata Steel Parivar” families of Kalinganagar is further emphasized through achievement of Zero infant mortality rate amongst the said families since last five years, which even majority of the developed countries across the globe has not achieved. They are focusing on providing proper antenatal, natal; post natal care, new born care and immunization to achieve Zero Infant Mortality rate for the members of Tata Steel Paribar in Kalingangar. In India approximately 1.72 million children die before reaching their first birth day. At present the Infant Mortality rate is 69 per thousand live births in Orissa comparison to 53 in India”
June 28th, 2010 at 3:37 am
Odisha development is becoming an absolute necessity. So whether it is the Tatas, the POSCO or the Vedantas, any company that brings in good fortune is welcome here.
November 11th, 2010 at 7:56 am
For a better future of the children and youth, Tata Steel has been providing free education to the displaced people at Kalinganagar. Tata Steel has been started various educational programs like Balbaries for primary education, admission to Govt. residential school etc. For higher education it has now started an educational scholarship program. Please check this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbMTyhDUpAI