Public hearings held for expansion of Lanjiberna limestone mines

TBB BUREAU

RAJGANGPUR, AUG 23, 2021

The Sundargarh District administration on Monday held public hearings at Kukuda Gram Panchayat and Alanda Gram Panchayat for land acquisition for expansion of the Lanjiberna Limestone mines of OCL India Limited.

 Sundargarh Collector had issued notification to hold public hearings for acquisition of 164.82 acres of land in Alanda Gram Panchayat and 162.96 acres in Kukuda Gram Panchayat for the expansion of OCL India Limited’s Lanjiberna limestone mines.

Earlier, to assess the impact of land acquisition, a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) report was prepared by the Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies (NCDS); and was submitted to Kukuda and Alanda Sarpanches for information on the affected families.

Today’s public meetings were held to get the views of the affected families on the report.

The public meetings were conducted by Sundargarh Sub Collector Abhimanyu Behera in presence of Rajgangpur Tehsildar Sarat Kumar Bagh, Rajgangpur Block Development Officer Piyush Lohar, Additional Superintendent of Police Surendra Majhi, SDPO Shashank Beura, other government officials, project-affected people, Company representatives, IIC Rajgangpur and IIC Kutra. Rajgangpur MLA Rajan Ekka participated in the Alanda public hearing.

While most of the participants supported the land acquisition proposal, few people opposed it demanding employment and peripheral development. Those who couldn’t present their views today, may send it in writing, the Sub Collector said.