ArcelorMittal says it is awaiting Jharkhand government?s clearance on transfer of a portion of tribal land covered under the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act. It is buying the land for its first phase 6 million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel plant to come up at Petarwar in Bokaro district.
In October 2005, the steel major had signed an MoU with the Jharkhand government for a 12-mtpa steel project in the state. But in February 2010, it was forced to change the project site from Torpa-Kamdera in Khunti-Gumla districts to Petarwar in Bokaro district following resistance from locals.
A company spokesperson said the company had sought approval from a competent authority in the state for its first tranche of 560 acres of land.
?Because of the CNT Act we had to seek the district administration?s approval. We have consolidated around 560-odd acres of land and sent it for approval to the competent authorities in Jharkhand, which we are expecting any day now,? said the spokesperson.
The company had been going on with the work of elaborate verification of title and other things of individual landowners, before getting the ?ekrarnamas? (binding contracts to sell) signed, when the new issue of ?tribal land? cropped up some time ago.
?With this new sort of clause, a lot of the land for which we have signed ?ekrarnamas? for, falls into that,? said the spokesperson, adding that the company was now awaiting the Jharkhand government?s direction on what to do next, which was expected ?any moment now.?
Of the 560-odd acres, around 160-170 acres is tribal land governed by the CNT Act. ?If they say that we should submit (the proposal) to them and they would clear it at the district level, fine; if they say it is an amendment (on which) we have not decided upon, fine; then we can directly purchase it (the land)?, said the spokesperson adding that the company would do whatever the government would direct it to do.
The company has adopted the procedure of consolidating blocks of 500 acres each of contiguously placed land by buying holdings of various sizes from different people and then submitting it to the government for clearance. On getting the government clearance, the company would be paying up individual landowners the price of their holdings in order to get physical possession of land.