Salt pans of individuals are only on 300 acres of 1,700-acre stretch chosen for shipbuilding unit: Survey

A field-level survey conducted by Revenue Department officials of the 1,700 acres of lands to be acquired for the greenfield shipbuilding unit on the outskirts of Thoothukudi has concluded that the 300 acres of salt pans to be acquired for this project are part of the 1,660-acre government poramboke land leased to salt manufacturers and only the remaining 40 acres are patta lands.

This has disproved the salt manufacturers’ allegation that the project would affect 50,000-odd salt pan workers’ livelihood as only a few hundred workers are relied upon these salt pans on 300 acres.

HD Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering has expressed interest in investing ₹38,000 crore in Muththaiahpuram, Mullakkadu and the adjoining areas for its shipbuilding yard. The district administration has initiated steps for acquiring 1,700 acres of land in Mullakkadu I, Mullakkadu II and Pazhayakayal for the project, which is expected to create around 15,000 direct employment. Moreover, this investment will also create thousands of jobs in marine components manufacturing.

On Thursday last, company representatives conducted a detailed site survey and held discussions with the district administration and V.O.C. Port Authority, which has jointly floated a special purpose vehicle with the Government for executing this project.

The discussions focussed more on project timelines and incentives the government should extend to the investor as Andhra Pradesh is also making all-out efforts to woo this investment by giving attractive incentives.

Hence, the district administration has accelerated its efforts to acquire the 1,700-acre lands. Within the 1,700-acre project area, salt pan lands are found only on 750 acres, the officials say.

“Out of this 750 acres, about 450 acres are under the control of Thoothukudi Alkali Chemicals (TAC), which wholeheartedly welcome the project… The remaining 300 acres are government ‘poramboke’ lands under the occupation or use of private salt pan operators (the lessees), from whom objections have been received. During our field-level inspection of the 300 acres, we found that private illegal transaction of government lands between the actual lessees and the third parties had taken place… We are about to initiate criminal action against the actual lessees,” a Revenue official from Thoothukudi told The Hindu on Tuesday.

As per the field enumeration, only 344 families, involving 447 salt pan workers, are actually affected by this acquisition of 300 acres of land now housing salt pans.

“Therefore, the claim being made by the protesters that around 50,000 persons are directly affected by the shipbuilding project is a venomous campaign which will be stopped firmly through appropriate legal actions. Similarly, the claim that the entire 1,700-acre project area comprises salt pan patta lands is also wrong,” said the official.