Kendrapara: The special rapporteur of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for East Zone, Bibhuti Bhusan Misra, reached Keonjhar to investigate the large scale displacement of people caused by the Kanpur Irrigation Project on river Baitarani in Keonjhar district.
The rapporteur Monday visited Chamakpur GP in Joda block and interacted with the villagers. The villagers demanded basic infrastructure and compensation. The villagers also brought to the notice of the rapporteur the dilapidated school in their locality. Misra visited the dam site at Kanpur. Later, he talked to senior officials at the circuit house.
Misra is scheduled to visit Kandara panchayat July 17 and Birikala panchayat July 18 and interact with the project affected people.
Arriving at the district headquarters of Keonjhar Sunday, Misra held two rounds of discussions with project director Ashok Kumar Panda, chief engineer Manoj Kumar Patra and other officials.
He also held talks with Radhakanta Tripathy, the petitioner, Naresh Chandra Sitary, president of the core committee of the displaced people, and Kiran Kumar Sahu, president of the senior citizens’ forum, Keonjhar.
The NHRC sought the probe report taking serious note of a petition and submissions filed by rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy. The NHRC appointed Misra as special rapporteur and directed him to visit the affected area to assess the situation by talking to villagers and the administration and to recommend measures to ensure protection of human rights of the affected people and submit his report within eight weeks.
The petitioner had alleged that thousands of displaced and other affected people been suffering and the reply submitted by the state authority does not give a true picture of the affected people. The report submitted by the state authority is just an eye wash, he said.
The report is silent on the RPDAC meeting interval, the number of people yet to be settled, lack of basic infrastructure and deprivation of bare necessities in the area. He said poor tribal and Dalit villagers in the area will become homeless and will be forced to die without food, shelter and livelihood.
No comprehensive report has been prepared regarding current land acquisition as per law, and for the rehabilitation of villagers, the petitioner pointed out.
While the district administration admits that only 185 families are to be rehabilitated, the core committee says the number is more than 3,000. Kiran Kumar Sahu, a former aerospace engineer, said the life of the project is only eight years and not 100 years as claimed by the authorities.
PNN
