The telegraph reported that farmers who had given land four years ago for a steel plant to be set up by the Jai Balaji Group in Purulia’s Raghunathpur have demanded their plots back as the project is yet to take off.

20 villagers submitted a memorandum to district magistrate Mr Avanindra Singh on behalf of the 900 land losers.

They alleged that the Jai Balaji Group had not done anything since the acquisition of 1,700 acres in 2007.

Mr Shaktipada Majhi, who had given 10 acres for the project, said “We want the steel plant to come up so that the villagers can get jobs. But the land has been lying idle since 2007. If the plant is not built, we want our land back so that we can cultivate it.”

Another villager, Mr Baneswar Ganguly, said “The acquired land was single crop but some also cultivated sugarcane after a harvesting paddy. We had given up our land in the hope that our children would get jobs in the steel plant. We are getting restless now. Our land should be returned if there are no plans of starting the project.”

The DM assured the farmers that he would look into the problem.

The company, however, said it could not start work because the land lease agreement was yet to be signed with the government.

The land had been acquired in phases by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation over a period of one year.

(Sourced from The Telegraph)