Other States - Madhya Pradesh   

Dam oustees' protest continues

Staff Correspondent

Demanding rehabilitation in good time before submergence

BHOPAL: The indefinite sit-in protest by the Indira Sagar dam and Omkareshwar dam oustees which began at Khandwa district headquarters on June 4 was still continuing on Saturday while the indefinite hunger strike by five persons, including the senior Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Chittaroopa Palit entered its fourth day. On Friday, 89 men and women from 30 affected villages also began a three-day hunger strike to press their demands.

The protesters, led by NBA, are demanding that the Narmada Hydro Development Corporation (NHDC) and the Madhya Pradesh Government fulfil their obligation to resettle and rehabilitate the oustees well before submergence. Senior NBA activist Alok Agrawal told The Hindu on Saturday that Khandwa District Collector Nikunj Shrivastava and NHDC General Manager Sanjay Mukhariya had told representatives of the agitating villagers during separate meetings that policy decisions on allotment of land to adult sons and land to the landless would be taken by the State Government.

But they have gone on to assure that immediate action would be taken to address problems linked with the rehabilitation sites. It has also been decided to provide essential services and facilities at private rehabilitation sites. In villages where land may not be coming under submergence but people's houses would be submerged, the villagers have received assurance that rehabilitation sites would be allotted to them within a kilometre of the affected areas.

For families that have not received grants, NHDC has given the commitment that all complaints would be examined and action taken on priority.

The Indira Sagar Project oustees are demanding that the farmers whose lands are coming under submergence at full reservoir level be given land for land instead of cash compensation, as was their right under the rehabilitation policy. They are also demanding that the adult sons and daughters of farmers be given 5 acres of land each as "separate families", as required under the rehabilitation policy and orders of the Supreme Court.

For the landless families displaced by the Indira Sagar Project, the Narmada Bachao Andolan is demanding that each landless family be given an oustee identity card and allotted temporary right over land (pattas) for cultivation of the draw down land of the Indira Sagar reservoir.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Dam oustees' protest continues

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu