Paradip: A cloud of uncertainty looming over the proposed multi-billion dollar Posco steel project in Jagatsinghpur district has led to a sprawling site office in the town here resembling a haunted area with no signs of human activity.
The company built three buildings each having three storeys on 10 acres of land in the coastal town. The land was said to have been gifted away by the government for throwaway prices, which also led to round criticism. The buildings have now turned into safe havens for antisocial elements, say locals.
Posco (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Company) headquartered at Pohang, South Korea had announced in 2005 that it would set up a steel plant at Paradip investing over Rs 52,000 crore in the largest single foreign investment the country had ever seen till that time. However, it received stiff opposition from various quarters during land acquisition at the proposed site and couldn’t set up its office there. Meanwhile, the administration allotted the Korean company about 10 acres of land near the ADM’s office at Rs 3 lakh an acre in 2008 to construct its administrative building. It is alleged that the market price of land in the same location was about Rs3 crore per acre. By the end of 2010-11, construction was completed on a war footing and the company started operating from this huge building. Several employees including many from South Korea were stationed at the office equipped with all amenities.
With growing resentment among locals against the administration and the South Korean steel major over various issues, there is now a stalemate over the fate of the multi-crore project. It is learnt the company had shut its office March 2015 and removed all its records and furniture from the building. While the main gate of the premises is locked, only three guards are posted in the area to provide a semblance of security to the building. The roads are covered by wild growth of shrubs as no one visits the office these days. The trees planted around the office have withered due to lack of upkeep.
The building looks like a haunted house from a distance while the seclusion has attracted unsocial elements to use the location as a hideout from where they operate their trade. Illegal scrap traders have zeroed in on the place to run their business after evening as water and electricity connection to the building have also been snapped, a security personnel said under condition of anonymity.
They burn stolen cables here and collect the copper portion which they resell on the black market, according to sources. The security guard was also beaten up by some drunkards a few days back when he opposed their activities, he said. Other illegal activities are also going on due to the loneliness of the location, another guard said.
There were 40 acres of government land at this place. Of these, five acres were given away for construction of a Jagannath temple, another five acres were given to Orissa State Housing Board, 10 acres for municipal authorities and 10 acres to Posco. While the administration finds it difficult to relocate people of 25 slums in the town due to space crunch, gifting a large patch to a foreign company has not gone down well with the locals. The company is yet to return the land to the government and the building has started coming apart, it was learnt.
When contacted, additional district magistrate Ramakrushna Sahoo said records related to the said land are not with him. The government would take a call over the fate of the land, he added. PNN