Farmers and other land owners, whose land is being acquired for Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd’s (TNPL) second unit in Tiruchi, welcomed the project, but were worried on the compensation they would get and sought employment guarantee in the project.

Local residents, who participated in a public hearing in Manapparai, about 40 km from Tiruchi, welcomed the project for the economic benefits. Over 300 acres are being acquired for the Rs 1,500-crore plant that will manufacture packaging board.

At least 300 people gathered on Thursday morning at a wedding hall at Manapparai, 10-15 km from the project site in Mondipatti village, for the public hearing conducted by the Tiruchi Collector, Jayashree Muralidharan.

M.P. Chinnadurai, Tiruchi District Tamil Nadu Vivsaigal Sangam, demanded 10 times the market value for the land, and jobs for land owners. P. Rajendran, a school teacher from Mondipatti Village, said this would be the first industrial unit in the region and will help stop people moving out in search of jobs. V. Manickam, a land owner, demanded that the number of jobs be proportional to the land being acquired.

The Collector has assured the gathering that the compensation will be in line with the prevailing regulations. TNPL is a public sector enterprise and the demands of the owners will be considered.

A. Velliangiri, Deputy Managing Director, TNPL, said the project is expected to generate at least 2,000 jobs directly and indirectly. The work on the construction is expected to start early next year after the clearances are obtained and this, too, will generate employment in the region. People whose land is being acquired for the project will be considered for the jobs.

Over Rs 60 crore will be spent on pollution mitigation measures.

At two lakh tonnes a year capacity, the paper board machine will be the largest-of-its-kind in the country. Ancillary industries will also come up in the vicinity as box makers will make investments in the region.

Velliangiri said TNPL has committed to spend 3 per cent of its net profit on corporate social responsibility in healthcare, education, rural and infrastructure development. It does this at its first unit in neighbouring Karur District, where it has a 4-lakh-tonne a year paper factory and spends a few crore rupees a year on CSR.

The new project is estimated on an internal rate of return of about 17 per cent and the unit will spend not less than Rs 1 crore a year on CSR. The proposed project will generate over Rs 150 crore revenue to the exchequer annually.

> balaji.ar@thehindu.co.in

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