The JSW for its proposed steel plant near here conducted a series of  tripartite discussions at the district and GP levels by mobilising project-affected villagers, district administration and JSW senior officials.  The objective was for eliciting public opinion.

The company has earmarked Rs 196 crore for periphery development and to engage 1,000 local youths.

The first village-level meeting was held at Govindpur on Friday amid discernible pro-industry support among villagers and other stakeholders.

Earlier, stakeholders’ meeting was held at Gadakujang on November 16 followed by another at Nuagaon on November 17.

As many as 3,500 people participated in these meetings. Among the concerns of people came out during discussions  alternative livelihood, employment, health, education intervention, environment and  water issues. A roadmap to initiate livelihood engagement for people at the project site was announced by JSW.

The district administration team was led by the Collector Parul Patawari. Among the participants were Water Resoruces Minister Raghunandan Das. Jagatsinghpur SP Akhileswar Singh was also present.

Though the Friday meeting overall showed a pro-industry atmosphere among the villagers, they urged the district administration and the JSW to consider their 11-point charter of demands.

The demands of the villagers were included as peripheral development of the area, job guarantee for displaced families, adequate compensation for land givers both private and government occupants, and inevitability for the project initiation.

Minister Das shared the concerns of the villagers and assured that the authorities would address them.