Lok Sabha Question No. 831 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-17
Subject: Land Acquired for Sipat Project
Ministry: POWER
Asked by: Arun Sao

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF POWER

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.831 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17.09.2020

## LAND ACQUIRED FOR SIPAT PROJECT

†831. SHRI ARUN SAO:

Will the Minister of POWER be pleased to state:

(a) the total number of land owners and their total land acquired for the Sipat project of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in Chhattisgarh;

(b) the number of land oustees or their relatives provided with employment and the number of people who are yet to be provided with jobs in lieu of land;

(c) whether any rules or parameters have been setup to provide employment to the land oustees against the land acquisition for various plants under the Union Government and if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether NTPC Sipat is following these rules and parameters;

(e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and

(f) the action taken in this regard so far?

## A N S W E R

THE  MINISTER  OF  STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  FOR  POWER,  NEW  & RENEWABLE ENERGY AND THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR SKILL DEVELOPMENT & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

( SHRI  R.K. SINGH)

(a) : A total of 2,318.84 acres of private land has been acquired from 3,765 land-owners (Khatedars) in respect of NTPC Sipat Project.

(b) to (f) : The details are as under:

(i)  Provision  of 'Land for  Land -LFL' was provided in the approved Rehabilitation Action Plan (RAP) 2000 of NTPC Sipat. Eligible Project Affected Persons (PAPs) under  LFL  were  provided  with  'Rehabilitation  Grant'  in  addition  t o  the  land compensation amount.

The land compensation amount was paid by NTPC through District administration for all 3,765 Khatedars. However, the Land for Land (LFL) option was opted by  only  3725  out  of  3765  khatedars and 40 did not opt for LFL. Out of 3,725

……….2.

Khatedars, 624 were not eligible and 3101 Khatedars were eligible for Rehabilitation Grant [Since the cut off date and eligibility for Rehabilitation Benefit as  per  the  approved  R&R  plan  for  Sipat  was  (i)  a  person  whose  land  has  been acquired for the project i.e. Khatedar and the said person has been residing in any of the affected villages and (ii) the person is a land owner since at least 1 year prior to the date of publication of Section 4 (1) of the notification under the LA Act 1894]. Rehabilitation  grant  and  Land  Compensation  amount  was  received  by  3011 Khatedars,  and  remaining  90  are  pending  due  to  individual  disputes  and  court cases.

(ii) Out of economic opportunities arising due to project activities, over & above the entitled Land compensation and Rehabilitation Grant, as above, only one of the following additional benefit was also extended to individual PAPs amongst total of 3101 PAPs:

| Additional Economic Opportunity                              |   No. of PAPs |
|--------------------------------------------------------------|---------------|
| Permanent Employment                                         |           395 |
| Secondary employment with contracting agencies               |           500 |
| Shop allotment                                               |            16 |
| Vehicle Hiring                                               |            33 |
| PAPs engaged through Co-operative Societies                  |           273 |
| Sub Total                                                    |          1217 |
| PAP who have not availed any additional economic opportunity |          1884 |
| Total                                                        |          3101 |

(iii) Under the Skill Development, ITI training to 248 Nos. of PAPs was provided. Out  of  248  ITI  trained  PAPs,  228  have  got  permanent  employment  (included  in above list of 395)

(iv) Further,  employment  to  626  PAPs  was  agreed  on  the  request  from peoples' representatives and the State Government in a Tripartite Meeting held in the year 2008 subject to eligibility as per NTPC's R&R policy, availability of vacancies,  NTPC's  recruitment  policy  and  State  Government's  policy  o n reservation. Details of PAP recruitment from 2008 onwards is as follows:

|   S No. | Description                                                                                                                              |   Number of Direct Employment |
|---------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|
|       1 | Recruited as per minutes of Tripartite Meetings and Priority List forwarded by District Administration                                   |                           395 |
|       2 | Considered but not issued offer due to dispute /lack of documents (seats kept blocked in view of pending legal cases in some instances)* |                            30 |
|       3 | Total posts for which recruitment has been conducted                                                                                     |                           425 |

*The offer of appointment could not be issued because of family disputes of PAPs, lack  of  submission  of  required  documents  by  the  candidates  and  pending  legal cases etc.

………..3.

(v) The remaining 201 vacancies include 47 unreserved /other categories and 154  reserved  posts  of  Scheduled  Tribes  along  with  the  backlog.  There  are  no Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates remaining in the Priority List forwarded by the District  Administration.  Therefore,  guidance  has  been  sought  from  the  District Administration  for  filling  up  of  remaining  ST  posts.  Recruitment  on  the  posts reserved for ST shall be done as per guidance from the District Administration in the matter. Recruitment is presently in process for 47 remaining posts (other than those earmarked for ST). However, due to non-availability of qualified candidates in the Priority List for posts such as Staff Nurse, Jr. Stenographer etc. NTPC Sipat has sought assistance from District Administration in arranging training of eligible PAPs for recruitment to these posts. Recruitment activity can be started only after imparting training to eligible PAPs.

(vi) Project specific R&R plans are developed keeping in view of Government Guidelines/ Policies and NTPC R&R Policy, in consultation with the stakeholders including District Administration. These R&R Plans have provisions for Rehabilitation Grant (RG) in form of Annuity in lieu of jobs or lump-sum one time RG to the Project Affected Families/ PAPs.

(vii) The Rehabilitation Action Plan (RAP 2000) of Sipat is based on NTPC's R&R policy.  Since  2008,  as  per  the  Tripartite  Meetings,  NTPC  has  been  conducting recruitment on the agreed posts giving preference to Project Affected Persons, in the Priority list provided by the District Administration.

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