The prospects of work commencing on the inland container yard at Kadakola any time soon are bleak given the insistence of farmers that they be given government jobs in lieu of land surrendered for the project.
A meeting held to resolve the issue here on Monday did not see much headway made on the matter, though Deputy Commissioner Abhiram S. Sankar, Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board officials and others assured them of complying with their demands and accommodating them in private sector units.
The Container Corporation of India (Concor), which is implementing the project, was allotted 55 acres for the greenfield project at Kadakola near Nanjangud, and the work was to commence in 2017 and the facility become operational by March 2019. However, farmers, who received compensation at the rate of nearly ₹35 lakh a acre, are seeking government jobs.
Anup Dayanand Sadhu, GM of Concor Group, said they could not be employed in their organisation as it did not have Group D and E cadre and Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal had refused to provide out-of-turn jobs bypassing the railway recruitment board norms.
Hence, the district administration promised to provide the farmers jobs in the private sector. However, the farmers cited the failure of a few private factories which have shut down and argued that having lost their land, they would also lose their jobs if it was in the private sector. In all, 45 persons have to be provided jobs.
In the meantime, the projec t, which has overshot its deadline, risks being scrapped, said M r. Dayanand. “The contractor, with his men and material, has been waiting to start work for the past four months, and if the works were to be called off, it could lead to arbitration. Hence, only a political intervention can resolve the impasse,” he said.
