SALBONI FARMERS UP IN ARMS

BISWABRATA GOSWAMI
biswabrata@ thestatesman. net
Midnapore, 4 December Hundreds of farmers, who gave up their land for the Jindal Steel Plant ( JSP) in West Midnapore’s Salboni, are planning to launch an indefinite agitation in front of the plant’s main gate from tomorrow until their demands are fulfilled.
Around 500 land- losers, who had given their lands seven years ago for the huge project in hopes of getting jobs and compensation, are now worried following an ‘ official’announcement from JSW chairman Sajjan Jindal saying that the project has been put on hold because it does not make “ financial sense” to pursue it in the current circumstances. The group had proposed to pump in up to Rs 35,000 crore in fresh investments, but some recent events have forced them to put the project on hold.
Making the announcement on 30 November, Mr.
Jindal said the proposed Rs 35,000- crore project, which was to be implemented in phases, would need to be re- examined as it did not have either coal or iron ore supply tie- ups. He said as JSW Bengal had already invested Rs. 700 crore in the project, JSW was keen about it. However, given the raw material uncertainties, it was not practical to go ahead with the project, Mr Jindal pointed out.
The three coal mines allocated to JSW have been cancelled in the wake of a directive of the Supreme Court, and the company said that it would bid for these when they were put on auction.
Most of the land was acquired before former Chief Minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee laid the foundation stone for the plant on 2 November, 2008.
Hundreds of famers under the banner of Salboni JSW Bengal Steel Plant Project Land Losers; Welfare Association, today met the company officials at the project site, but all the discussions with them were fruitless.
Pariskar Mahato, who led the protesters, said,“ We will start an indefinite protest agitation in front of the plant’s main gate from tomorrow until our demands are met. We have demanded a monthly honorarium to each family if it can’t provide us jobs and to allow us to cultivate our lands until the project is started again.
The company should also provide us share certificates immediately.” BJP block president Muktinath Patra said they will submit a memorandum to the JSW chairman for starting operations in Salboni.
Though the company had promised on 2 November 2008 that production would begin at the plant by 2014, work at the site has fallen way behind schedule. So far, only staff quarters and some office rooms have come up at the site beside a boundary wall around it.
It isn’t, however, immediately known if the state government will take the same stand on the JSW group’s projects as it did on Tata Motors Ltd’s mothballed Singur plant, a senior administrative official said.
We have demanded a monthly honorarium to each family if the firm can’t provide us jobs, and to allow us to cultivate our lands until the project is started again.