Tatas' Bastar plant files 'missing'

Files related to the organisation of a public hearing for environment and forest clearance for Tata Steel's proposed 5-million-tonne integrated steel plant in Bastar are "missing". The district administration said it has not received the documents that were sent from the state capital a month ago.

"The files for organising the public hearing were sent to the district authorities on May 20 from the state capital," member secretary of the Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board K Subramaniam told Business Standard. The Bastar district headquarters is about 300 km from the state capital.

Bastar district collector M S Paraste admitted that the files had not reach his office and this was why the date for organising the public hearing could not be announced.

"The announcement of date and other formalities will be completed soon after we receive the files," Paraste added.

The steel major's plant in Lohandiguda block of Bastar district requires 2,160.58 hectares of land. The land acquisition process has sparked off controversy with villagers alleging payment of "fake compensation".

Recently, 80 villagers submitted a memorandum to the governor alleging that compensation for their land had been given to someone else just to show on record that the land acquisition was on the right track.

The public hearing was supposed to be completed within one-and-a-half months of sending the files to the district authorities.

Even if the administration receives the files, it would take another one-and-a-half months to complete the formalities of sending out a public notice and communicating the schedule to the villagers.

Former legislator and social activist Manish Kunjam, who is leading a movement against the project, said the administration was delaying the process of organising the public hearings.

Sources said local resentment against the Tata Steel plant could be one of the reasons for the administration to delay the public hearing. The state goes to the polls at the end of this year.