On Friday, the Odisha government decided to return to the original landowners 206 acres of land previously purchased for the Tata Steel plant off the coast of Gopalpur in the Ganjam region.
In 1996, the Odisha government purchased 6,900 acres of land in Kalipally and 12 other villages for the proposed factory. But the plan didn’t work out.
The decision to return the 206 acres of land to the landlord or legal heir was made at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Naveen Patnaik.
“In consideration of the public interest, the government has decided to return 206.685 acres of land which remained unutilized for the last two decades,” chief secretary SC Mohapatra said after the meeting.
He further stated, “The land will be handed over to the original owners or to their legal heirs as per the provision of Rule 20 of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition“.
“The land will be handed over to the original owners or to their legal heirs as per the provision of Rule 20 of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,” the chief secretary added.
Those who lost their land were compensated, but the government decided to cancel the payments to the victims. Recently, CM Patnaik encouraged Tata Sons to expand their footsteps in the state. He met N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, to discuss the company’s various projects, including Tata Steel.
