Tata Steel for rehabilitation First - Kalinganagar and Tontoposhi

The Telegraph - Calcutta : Frontpage

Orissa trip for displaced - Tata Steel for rehabilitation first

OUR BUREAU

File picture of a meeting between Tata steel officials and Tontoposhi residents Jamshedpur, May 7: Tata Steel today unveiled its plans to first rehabilitate the displaced even before starting on their greenfield projects at Kalinga Nagar in Orissa and Tontoposhi in Jharkhand. Under the “Tata Parivar” scheme, the displaced would first be shifted to a residential colony with assured electricity, water, sewerage and other modern amenities. Arrangements will be made for health and education services and training will be imparted to each according to his needs. Tata Steel’s head of corporate communication Sanjay Choudhary today told the media that the company also planned to take villagers from Jharkhand to Orissa on a conducted tour so that they could see what the company has already done for the displaced at Kalinga Nagar. The company, he said, has already set up a separate department of relief & rehabilitation with Shyam Thangaraj as its head. It has also set up a training institute at Seraikela (Jharkhand) and an information centre is also being set up to provide answers to the villagers and the curious. Tata Steel plans to set up a 10 million tonne greenfield steel plant at Kalinga Nagar and a 12 million tonne steel plant in Jharkhand. The company, said Choudhary, is committed to ensure an enhanced quality of life for the displaced. That is why, he claimed, it has taken steps for relief and rehabilitation even before reaching an agreement on land prices. The rehabilitation plan, he said, will also take care of people marginally or indirectly affected by the project, like those running roadside eateries. An identification process will precede registration of the people, each of whom will receive an identity card. Independent social audits will maintain transparency and monitor steady growth of income of the displaced. It will be a customised scheme, revealed Choudhary, that will take into account the expertise, temperament and aptitude of the people. While the elderly used to farming will be helped with advanced agricultural techniques, the younger people with suitable qualifications will be trained for technical work. The Tata Parivar project is on the lines of a similar project unveiled at Kalinga Nagar, he said, but will be significantly different because of regional requirements, local traditions and customs as well as geographical conditions. The objective of the company is to ensure participation of the displaced people in all phases of the project, starting from construction to operation, he asserted. Urbanisation of the displaced, proper attention to environmental considerations under which there will be a fair distance between the plant and the township and a customised plan for women are other features of the Tata Parivar project, he said. Asserting that Tata Steel and “trust” are synonymous, Choudhary invited doubting Thomases to visit Kalinga Nagar and get a first hand account of the project. A number of families at Kalinga Nagar, he claimed, have already been shifted to their new homes in the proposed township. A dedicated team of experts is already at work at Kalinga Nagar, he claimed, to make lives of the displaced comfortable. The information centre at Seraikela, he added, will impart details of the rehab plan, along with township design.