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Rajasthan team to hold talks on Pong oustees' rehabilitation

Special Correspondent

JAIPUR: A Cabinet committee of Rajasthan on rehabilitation of oustees of the Pong dam in Himachal Pradesh -- which is the main source of water in Indira Gandhi Canal -- will be visiting Shimla to sort out the issue of allotment of land to some of the oustees.

The committee comprises Public Works Department Minister Rajendra Rathore, Revenue Minister Ramnarain Doodi and Minister of State for Agriculture Surendra Pal Singh.

The Rajasthan Government had agreed to allot land to oustees after the construction of dam in 1960. The State Government has so far allotted land to 9,196 applicants who were given eligibility certificates by the Himachal Pradesh Government.

Mr. Rathore said here that a memorandum of understanding on rehabilitation signed with Himachal Pradesh in 1981 had made some provisions with a humanitarian spirit. When some of the allottees sold their land to the local residents, the State Government registered the names of buyers in the revenue records in 1972 as a sympathetic gesture. However, the Supreme Court later nullified the regularisation of allotment of land in favour of buyers on a writ petition moved by Pong Bandh Visthapit Samiti and vested the title of land in the State Government.

Mr. Rathore said the State Government had restored allotment to 390 oustees in these cases after the special courts gave judgments in favour of 468 oustees. The Minister said the committee members would meet Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and revenue officials to consider these cases sympathetically and provide relief to farmers. He said a consensus would be evolved on the issue.

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