Even as the compensation for private land has been fixed at INR 1.7 million per acre for the locals affected by the POSCO project, the rate at which the state government will allot government land to the company at its proposed site near Paradip is only INR 25,000 per acre.

It said that “The state government will allot government land to POSCO India at the rate of INR 25,000 per acre. The price is as per the prevailing rate in the Paradeep region in 2005 when the state government had inked an MoU with POSCO India.”

Mr Raghunath Mohanty industries minister in response to a query in the state legislative assembly said that the rate has been fixed in accordance with the state's Industrial Policy of 2001 and as of now, we have no plan to hike the rate of government land for the project.

As many as 470 families are likely to be affected by the POSCO project, the minister stated.

Besides, the project was set to impact 1877 betel vines and 31 prawn hatcheries at the project site.

According to a decision taken by the Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development Advisory Committee in its meeting held on July 8 this year, the rate of compensation for betel vines has been fixed at INR 1.15 million per acre, INR 0.2 million per acre for prawn hatcheries and INR 0.1 million per acre of farm land.

Meanwhile, the state government owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa has so far allotted 9644.64 acres of government land to 48 out of 92 companies that have entered into MoUs with the state government.

(Sourced from BS)