ArcelorMittal closes highway, villagers take detour

The distance between Kuditini and Haraginadoni in the taluk is just 7 km. But the villagers are forced to take a detour of 40 km. And they are doing it for the past three years.

Reason: World’s largest steelmakers ArcelorMittal, which had planned to set up Rs 30,000-crore six million tonne per annum capacity steel plant a few years back, had installed gate on state highway, thereby blocking the movement of vehicles and people between the villages.

The Luxembourg-based steel behemoth had bought 4,900 acres from KIADB seven years back in a bid to start the steel plant. The company had erected a fence and installed a gate on the land, along with the state highway which passes by the acquired land. ArcelorMittal has not started the plant, citing lack of raw materials nor has removed the gate for traffic on state highway. The villagers are using an interior road but then they have to travel at least 15 km, instead of 7 km, to reach the villages.

Doddanagouda, an aggrieved resident of Haraginadoni, poured out his woes to DH, “We cannot use the state highway as the company has blocked it by installing a gate. The security staff claim that the said road has been acquired by the company. The district administration had assured us of alternative route, but nothing has come out of it.”

The residents of Haraginadoni had brought the issue to the notice of MP V S Ugrappa during a District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee meeting in January. Ugrappa then had expressed his displeasure saying, “How can the company keep the land and block the state highway when it showed no interest in starting the steel plant? Why the district administration didn’t act for so long?”

The MP had instructed Assistant Commissioner Ramesh Konareddy to remove the gate in 24 hours and initiate action against the company. But five months down the line, the gate is still in place.