Anger over Jindal plant delay in Salboni

SALBONI: Villagers in West Midnapore’s Salboni, who gave up land for the Jindal steel plant project, vent their ire on Thursday over no industry coming up on the land they gave up back in 2007. They were participating at a hearing conducted by the state Pollution Control Board (PCB) on the cement plant Jindal Steel Works (JSW) has proposed to set up on about 133 acres of the 4,334 acre project site.The PCB had convened the mandatory hearing to ascertain if local residents had any objections on environmental grounds to a cement plant coming up in the area.
The 300 villagers in attendance – all land losers to the project – said they were in penury because JSW had taken away their land but none of the promised benefits had flowed to them as the steel plant project had been kept in abeyance. The promises included a job for a member of each land-losing family and shares in the company.
Ananda Singh, a farmer who gave up five bighas of land for the project, told the hearing amid applause from the rest, “I had given up land with the hope that my son would get a job in the steel plant. My son underwent training but never got a job. We are finding it tough to make ends meet and don’t have enough money to even buy food.”
The hearing conducted by West Midnapore ADM (panchayat) Sushanta Chakraborty was attended by officials and engineers from PCB along with JSW’s project in-charge and associate vice president Alok Bhattacharya and the company’s consultant Arindam Das.
Other land losers too narrated tales of deprivation and said they had no objection to a cement plant coming up. Though some demanded adequate steps to check pollution hazards, the general mood of villagers was that any industry was welcome. “We gave up agricultural land for the project but continue to farm on land just beside it. Steps should be taken to ensure that no pollution spreads to the land we farm on,” said Sambhu Soren. Chandan Manna said, “The moram road leading out from the project site gate causes most pollution as vehicles leave a trail of red dust while plying on them. This road should be made concrete.”
JSW consultant Arindam Das outlined steps the company was taking to check pollution hazards while seting up the Rs 550 crore cement plant. He said, “Trees would be planted on a third of the 133.2 acre land for the 2.4 million ton cement plant. The sound level from the plant would be only 85 decibels. Fly ash generated from the plant would be recycled for production of cement.”