Sambalpur: Members of the Hirakud Budi Anchal Sangram Samiti, an outfit fighting for the rights of displaced people, alleged that Odisha and Chhattisgarh governments have furnished wrong data in their affidavits to the NHRC about the rehabilitation and resettlement of the Hirakud oustees.
Addressing a press meet here, secretary of the samiti Gopinath Majhi said the secretaries of the both the states have provided wrong information about the R&R to the NHRC.
He pointed out that Supreme Court lawyer Radhakant Tripathy approached the NHRC about various problems of the Hirakud oustees. Hearing on the plea, the NHRC had asked both the states to submit their replies in affidavits.
The samiti claimed that a total of 26,501 families displaced by Hirakud were identified in 1955-56 while 13,470 families have not been rehabilitated and provided with compensation. Only 50 percent compensation has been provided to them, he said.
The samiti also stated that in 1987, then minister Jugal Kishore Patnaik, in a reply in the State Assembly had said that 9,913 affected people had not been paid compensation. After repeated demands and legal hassles, 3,540 of them had been paid Rs 10,000 each per acre.
However, 5,204 of the oustees have not yet received compensation towards loss of trees, wells, temples and other damage. In 2002, the state government had decided to provide 10 decimals of land to the oustees, but no land was provided to them till date.
However, in the affidavit, the state government has claimed to have provided land to all affected people but in reality, 10 decimal of land was provided to 221 people each in Rengali tehsil, 201 in Jamankira tehsil and 25 in Kunchinda tehsil.
On the other hand, the state government has not taken any action on applications of over 1,000 people seeking land for rehabilitation in Sundargarh.
On the other hand, the water resources department has handed over 34 non-revenue villages near the Hirakud reservoir to the revenue department, but survey work has not been conducted on it till date.
The samiti activists warned of agitation against the government for furnishing wrong information to the NHRC. The government should give the NHRC exact information about the rehabilitation and the resettlement.
PNN
