Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written to Union coal minister Piyush Goyal seeking his intervention in giving relief to aggrieved people in Angul and Jharsuguda districts who lost their land to the Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) for mining activities.
The CM has sought the Centre’s attention to the hardships of people whose land was acquired by the MCL, a subsidiary of the Coal India Ltd (CIL) and the parcels of land that are not likely to be used in near future. People in the latter category are in a fix for, they are not entitled to get compensations nor can they use their land.
The CM said under the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act, more than 23,300 hectares were acquired under the Act for coal mining projects of the MCL in Angul and Jharsuguda districts alone.
Of these, the CM said, only about 10,700 hectares had been utilised so far while 3,400 hectares are planned to be utilised within next five years. The CM claimed that of the balance 9,500 hectares, there are no plans for utilization of 3,600 hectares for next 10 years.
“The MCL takes up rehabilitation and resettlement of land losers only at a time of its actual utilization for mining purpose. After vesting of land under the Act with the MCL, the land losers are forced to wait indefinitely for rehabilitation and resettlement. These people are neither able to avail the facilities of development schemes nor can construct structures for their accommodation until they are actually rehabilitated and resettled,” he said.
The CM has demanded de-notifying such unused land in the mining rich areas. He said, “To ameliorate the hardships caused to such land losers, it is suggested that land notified/acquired under the Act but not required for coal mining within next five years may be de-notified.”
He also said, “It is also requested that until completion of the rehabilitation and resettlement of all land losers, the coal company should take the responsibility of the local development works and provision of basic amenities for the people living in the area.”