kolkata: The state government handed over appointment letters to another 78 persons who had given their land for the Deocha Pachami coal block in Birbhum.
The recipients have been officially handed over job letters for junior constables in the state police at a programme organised at Netaji Indoor Stadium at Suri in Birbhum.
The beneficiaries had already left for Barrackpore on Sunday to join four months of training before being inducted into jobs.
The needful was done in presence of state MSME minister Chandranath Sinha, MLA from Rampurhat Asish Banerjee, District Magistrate Bidhan Roy and Police Superintendent Nagendranath Tripathi.
"The handing over of job letters has proved yet again that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is always true to her words. In the first phase, we handed over job letters to 275 beneficiaries. In the second phase we are doing the same for 78," Banerjee said.
A senior Trinamool leader stated that there have been efforts to spread misunderstandings about the project. Some coal mine owners and Jharkhand-based organisations have been trying to mislead the local people about the project for their personal interests. "It is now upon you whether you will bring good prospects for Birbhum and Bengal as a whole. You should inform everyone in your locality about the benefits of the project," minister Sinha said.
The project is stated to have the capability of storing power for 100 years so there will be no power crisis in the state and power tariff will also get reduced with the state's own infrastructure.
According to the rehabilitation package, a person having land in the area will get double the market value of the land along with 100 per cent solatium as land cost, which is around Rs 13 lakh per bigha.
The initial package that was announced for the land givers of Deocha Pachami was providing one employment for one member of every family as Junior Police Constable. However, in the revised package, those with higher qualifications will be provided with a higher grade posting in police or an equivalent posting in other departments namely the Group C category.
The compensation states that long-term occupants in the area will be provided with land patta and compensation package.
All houses under the package will be provided in a model refugee and rehabilitation colony with all basic and civic amenities including internal roads, drinking water connection, health centre, electricity, ration shop, bank, playground, community centre, place of worship for all communities and burial ground for all concerned at a government land adjoining the coal block.
There are 12 villages in the area having around 4,314 households with a population of 21,033.