The lands required for NLC India are acquired by the District Administration as per the Land Acquisition Act prevailing at the time of acquisition. The entitled compensation and other rehabilitation and resettlement benefits are fully provided to the land owners and livelihoods are protected. Currently, the lands are acquired as per “Tamil Nadu acquisition of land for Industrial Purposes Act, 1997”, with the provisions relating to the determination of compensation as specified in the First Schedule, rehabilitation and resettlement as specified in the Second Schedule and infrastructure amenities as specified in the Third Schedule of RFCTLARR Act, 2013. About 1054 hectares of land required for mine advancement for the next 5 years is being acquired to sustain continuous electricity generation which will contribute to the development of the state.

As per the revised NLCIL’s enhanced compensation & R&R policy for Neyveli region, the minimum compensation is paid (including Multiplying factor, Solatium, Additional Market Value), wherever the land compensation arrived by LAO as per the provision of Schedule-I of RFCTLARR Act is less than following:

1.      for Agricultural lands, Rs.25 Lakh per acre (a special GO Ms. No. 185 dated 25.08.2022 has been issued by GoTN for making minimum land compensation payment of Rs. 23 lakhs per acre and the balance Rs 2 Lakhs per acre is being paid as ex-grataia)

(II)      for House site lands acquired from Rural Areas, Rs 40 Lakh per acre.

(III)      for House lands acquired from Urban areas, Rs.75 Lakh per acre.

For NLCIL projects, the total land compensation as applicable as per the prevailing act is deposited with the District Collector based on the request made. Land Acquisition Officer disburses the land compensation to the individual land owners through e-payment after getting required clarification from the land owners. Apart from the above, Monetary benefits under the Rehabilitation and Resettlement provisions is also paid, as per the extant provisions.

For employment opportunities, the total employment opportunities provided to PAPs in Neyveli region is detailed below:

 

Further, so far 5126 contract workmen have been inducted as regular employees of NLCIL. Action is being taken to induct another set of 517 Nos. of contract workmen in the roles of the company based on 12(3) settlement under ID Act 1947 entered into balance contract workmen. All the contract workmen engaged by contractors in Neyveli are from the surrounding villages. NLCIL has also issued notifications for the recruitment of 192 Nos of Mining Sirdar, Surveyor and Overman for the Mines at Neyveli wherein only the candidates from local regions can apply. In this all the 39 PAPs who applied were selected. NLCIL has also issued notification for 238 training slots and 262 training slots for SME operator Assistants and Technicians (under 3 year training scheme) respectively, exclusively for PAPs. Last date for submission of application has been extended upto 16.08.2023.

Continual Contractual employment for 1000 PAPs, one per family. Out of this 206 AMC jobs have been provided. Bonus 20 marks for PAPs in the written exam for permanent employment in Group C and D categories. Special coaching to the PAP’s for competitive examinations in TNPSC (Group-I, Group-II and Group-IV). Skill Development Programs for technically qualified PAPs.

The State and District administration have conducted various meetings with project affected people, panchayat presidents, political leaders and party representatives along with NLCIL under the leadership of Hon’ble Ministers, to address the demands of the land owners.

Besides above, informal meetings were conducted several times with village people. In addition to the above, meeting under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary and ACS, Industries were also conducted to resolve the issues.

At the end of the various rounds of negotiations chaired by the Hon'ble Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, GoTN and Hon'ble Minister of Labor Welfare and Skill Development, GoTN in which the District Collector, Land Owners and Panchayat Heads participated, the minimum compensation for agricultural lands has been increased to Rs. 25 Lakhs per acre. NLC India is the only Public Sector Company in India giving this much of compensation for agricultural lands. For the first time, in case, an acre of land and a house is lost a total compensation of Rs.75 Lakhs is being offered to the land owners. Concerted efforts are being taken to provide permanent employment to people affected by land acquisition activities by the NLCIL. Most of the landowners have accepted the new benefits revised after various stages of negotiations.

Further, NLCIL is having great concern for the land owners who are parting with their lands and houses and also with the peoples living in the surrounding villages. Hence in order to address the grievances of the affected people and solving issues amicably within the permitted rules and regulations, a Grievance Redressal Cell has been formed in Neyveli for improving the accessibility of land affected people to the authorities to express their grievances.

This information was given by Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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BY/RKP

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