Sesa Sterlite gives Local Admin a Stronger Say

Sesa Sterlite Ltd, Lanjigarh, has come up with a unique system to give district administration higher authority in providing employment to the project affected people (PAP). The new system aims at providing transparency to the process of hiring of local people as and when employment opportunities come up and better address their grievances related to the same, the company said.

The new system, laid down after discussion with the district administration, formed a committee including BDO of Lanjigarh, IIC of Lanjigarh Police Station and Local Tehsildar as the key members. The members will be supported by HR Head and Head of the Land Department of SSL Lanjigarh.

The committee will look into screening of job applications of local people. Under the system, an applicant has to send a copy of his job application to the committee. Based on set guidelines the committee will recommend the company the order of preference of the candidate for unskilled employment to be given to the local people. The guidelines were finalized recently at a meeting attended by Dr. BijayaKetan Upadhyaya, Collector, Kalahandi and Brijesh Kumar Rai, SP, Kalahandi, provides the order of preference.

The first preference in this is given to PAP who did not opt for one time cash settlement of their land in the past, while those who opted for one time settlement gets the next preference. The order will be followed by people who are not project affected, but it is subject to available technical skills.

Commenting on the new system, K. K. Dave, COO, SSL, Lanjigarh said, “We always believe in transparency. The new system empowers a neutral body in form of the local administration to decide the order, and not the company. People can present their case for filing available employment opportunities in sequence to the committee and stay rest assured that their case will be considered based on recommendations given by the committee.”