The aluminium alloy plant that Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI) was expected to co-build with NALCO’s expertise on a 110-acre land at Bodduvaripalem, quite close to Nellore city, has not yet seen any progress. Though all the persistent legal issues related to the land acquisition have been taken care of, and the defence organisation has declared an INR 2,500 – INR 3,000 crore investment, the project has not gained any noticeable pace at all.
Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI) can be deemed as a central government enterprise located in Hyderabad that has been creating alloys since it was established in 1976. The company also holds a primary place in the indigenisation of critical technologies and products to assist different programmes of national importance. The Greenfield project was announced in 2017 but was on halt due to all these land-related dilemmas.
A senior official from the company has recently confirmed that a boundary wall has been constructed marking the area of the project, and all the land disputes have been resolved. He also added if the dispute is not resolved properly, then the company might choose an alternative plot for the construction, which it has already eyed.
The land allotted for the production unit is already levelled and clear, with no ingrown plants or debris. The district administration is also eager to provide auxiliary lands to MIDHANI if the company makes the decision to construct its unit in the proposed area.
The acquired lands were then transferred to UtkarshaAlluminum Dhatu Nigam Limited, the joint venture of MIDHANI and NALCO. The x-vice president of India, M Venkaiah Naidu, came forward in support of the establishment since this Nellore site would be the first defence manufacturing facility outside Hyderabad.
The sudden death of former Union Minister Arun Jaitley also delayed the foundation ceremony, which had been scheduled for August 2019.
During the first quarter of 2017, the state government was approached by MIDHANI, and the latter was initially allotted 110 acres of land after signing a Memorandum of Understanding stating it would form a joint venture with NALCO. But this entire arrangement crumbled down because some local farmers came out in protest to save their lands.
Under the CJFS programme, the state government had previously distributed some lands to the local farmers almost forty years ago, but they weren’t using those lands for cultivation or cattle rearing until 2010-12.
To cope with that, the government reassigned them in 2013, decreasing the extent from one acre to 60 cents each who were having land Pattas as they were not using the lands for livelihood activity.
In fact, revenue authorities offered INR 10 lakh to the lands in 2013 though the market value was at INR 4 lakh per acre for cultivable lands.
The farmers were not satisfied with such a meagre value, and litigation was filed to gather a much larger amount. Anyhow, Utkarsha Dhatu Nigam, which is part of MIDHANI and NALCO, is now responsible for the project, but it has not brought any change in the course of activities.
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