MANGALORE: Families displaced by the Mangalore Special Economic Zone (MSEZ), who opted for jobs instead of a one-time cash settlement, will be given jobs unconditionally at the MSEZ, Minister in charge of Dakshina Kannada district J. Krishna Palemar said here on Monday.
His comments were in response to a 12-day agitation by students who had enrolled for a course at the Karnataka Polytechnic to make them eligible for jobs at the MSEZ. Both married and unmarried men and women, aged between 20 and 35, have given up jobs and educational courses elsewhere to join the training course.
The students had stopped construction of Phase III of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL) by preventing vehicles from reaching the site.
Stipend
Mr. Palemar said “all” students would be given letters of appointment and a monthly stipend of Rs. 10,000 until they began work. Students who had completed their training at the polytechnic would be given priority over others in the offer of employment, he added.
Deal
A deal was hammered out during a two-hour closed-door meeting attended by Deputy Speaker N. Yogish Bhat; Abhaychandra Jain, MLA; Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP; Coastal Development Authority Chairman B. Nagaraja Shetty; Commissioner of Police Seemant Kumar Singh; Deputy Commissioner N.S. Channappa Gowda; office-bearers of the Samyukta Hitarakshana Samiti; student protesters; and representatives of the companies.
Mr. Palemar said that a Government Order would be issued within two weeks, and letters of appointment handed over to all nominees of the project displaced families within three months of the issue of the order.
MSEZ, MRPL, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd. (ISPRL) and ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals (OMPL) would employ one person from each of the 1,063 project displaced families. The companies would employ people in proportion to the land allotted to them by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board.
Of the 183 persons to be employed by MRPL, 86 have already joined work. As many as 143 persons will be given jobs within a year at OMPL, which will be commissioned in one and a half years. Although ISPRL was to provide jobs to 58 people, it has taken on 14 people, while the rest will be absorbed by MSEZ. In all, companies set up within the MSEZ will give jobs to 560 people, the Minister said.
Compensation
A total of 1,664 families have been displaced by the MSEZ from 2,317 acres of land acquired till date. Of these, 601 families opted for a one-time compensation instead of a job.
Some 411 students joined a training programme specially created to make those displaced by the project eligible for jobs in the MSEZ. As many as 392 pursued studies by themselves, but are listed for the MSEZ jobs, while the rest are “still to decide”, according to an official document.
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