Keonjhar: The Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC) in this district has not been holding meetings regularly, thereby depriving the locals in mining-affected areas of their due benefits, a report said. Reports said that it is the responsibility of this RPDAC committee to hold regular meetings and take care of the rehabilitation of the people in the affected areas, protection of the environment and their livelihood. It is alleged that the committee is not having its regular sittings and not prioritising the problems and development of people in the concerned areas. The matter came to the fore after a social organisation ‘Vasundhara’ in mining mining-dominated Bolani area of Keonjhar district wrote a letter to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi urging him to address the issues.
Moreover, the director of Vasundhara has also submitted a memorandum to the state government through Barbil additional tehsildar Biswajit Dalei. According to the memorandum, Bolani iron ore mine under Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) is located under Joda block. A public hearing was held October 24, 2011 for expansion of the mine. The mining authorities made various promises to the local people for the development of the area while attending the public hearing. After the support of the locals, mining expansion work started. While the company has reaped huge profits from the mining and has been exporting large quantities of iron ore to other countries, there is growing discontentment among the locals as the promises made to them are yet to be fulfilled. It is the duty of RPDAC to monitor and comply with these promises.
However, as the committee is not having its regular meetings nor is it reviewing the activities, the company officials have taken the rules for a ride. “If no action is taken and the promises are not fulfilled, people of the affected areas will protest against any expansion of mining in the gram sabha and public hearing in coming days,” a social activist said. As per the memorandum, the company had promised to set up an ITI in the area to train the local youths. However, it is alleged that the ITI, which was opened in 2014, was closed before it could become fully operational. Similarly, they promised to upgrade a school in Bolani slum, but to no avail. Similarly, they promised an infrastructure revamp at DAV School located in Bolani township but nothing concrete has been done.
As a result of this, the education of the local children has taken a back seat. Similarly, it has been alleged that the company has not kept its promise to provide employment opportunities to the project-affected people. The company has also promised to set up a beneficiation plant here, which has remained a distant dream for the last eight years. Had the beneficiation plant been established, it could have provided employment opportunities to many local youths, said Vivekananda Nanda, director and member of RPDAC. District Collector had frequently apprised the RDC as well as the Union and state governments of the issues, but the step was taken address the same. However, locals have become optimistic after a new government was formed in the state, he added.