Demands of displaced families

Issues and Demands of the displaced families of ISP and OSP dams Indira Sagar Project (ISP): 1. Immediately implement the Orders of the Hon’ble High Court of Jabalpur dated 08-09-2006 and 2-09-2009 issued in the writ petition filed by Narmada Bachao Andolan, directing grant of 5 acres agricultural land to all adult sons and unmarried daughters of every affected farmer. 2. The displaced labourers must be given rights over the land under partial submergence (thousands of acres of talak zameen) as they would reap the benefits of the wheat crop in the rains and the summer crop, when the water recedes, and can thus earn a respectable livelihood. 3. The displaced fish workers in the Indira Sagar project affected areas are being subjected to physical assault and hooliganism which must be immediately stopped and the right to fishing must be granted to the fish workers and not the contractors. 4. NHDC has occupied the agricultural lands by paying paltry sums of compensation and the farmers have not be able to purchase land again. It is, therefore, necessary that the Special Rehabilitation Grant being given for the lands must be on par with the Harda command rate of at least 1.5 lakhs to 2 lakhs per acre. 5. The thousands of houses in the ISP submergence area, which are excluded even to this day, must be acquired and appropriate compensation be paid immediately. 6. The houses in all such villages where the lands have submerged and there is no other alterative source of livelihood must be immediately acquired and lawful compensation and rehabilitation must be urgently provided. 7. There is rampant corruption in the rehabilitation of the ISP displaced, particularly in the Harda district. The rehabilitation entitlements are being reaped by the agents and middlemen with the connivance of the officials, which must be immediately stopped and an independent inquiry into the same initiated and the guilty punished. 8. The livelihood of all those in the resettlement colonies must be guaranteed and BPL ration cards be issued to them immediately along with the provision of other civic amenities such as schools, drinking water, hospital etc. 9. It astonishes that until now; even the lists of families are not finalized in many of the villages. This should be immediately undertaken and the affected families must be provided all the rehabilitation entitlements which they are deprived of, until now. 10. All the left-out villages upto Handia and Nemavar in the Indira Sagar submergence area must be surveyed on a war-footing and the affected families be granted compensation and rehabilitated. 11. Along with the acquisition the less than 25% of remaining land, any other assets also must be acquired. 12. Where the houses are in submergence, but the lands are not, resettlement sites must be established with a radius of 1 km 13. The scale indicating the water-level at the Indira Sagar dam site has been maliciously erased by NHDC, which is a matter of grave concern. A new scale, indicating the correct water level must be immediately put in place, in a transparent manner. Omkareshwar Project (OSP): 1. All the project-displaced must be fully and fairly rehabilitated as per the Orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and Jabalpur High Court by giving irrigated and cultivable land. 2. The Government should not give already encroached lands as this would jeopardize the livelihoods of other poor and create social tensions and insecurity to the displaced. 3. The Orders of the Hon’ble High Court dated 23-09-2009 and all other orders must be immediately and fully implemented. 4. The displaced must be given house plots of their choice in the command area as per the judicial orders and the Rehabilitation Policy. 5. The houses that have been left out must be acquired and the affected duly compensated, as per law. 6. The farmers have been given paltry amounts as compensation. Special Rehabilitation Grant for the agricultural lands should be given at the rate of at least 1.5 lakhs to 2 lakhs per acre. 7. The fishing rights in the reservoir should in no case be given to the contractors. Instead full rights should be granted to the displaced fish workers on a priority basis. 8. All families who are arbitrarily excluded of or denied the due entitlements of rehabilitation should be given the same immediately, including house plots, livelihood grants etc. 9. NHDC must be punished as per law for its criminal act of causing the death of hundreds of people in Dharaji due to the sudden release of waters in 2004. NHDC should also be brought to book for the tragic death of an adivasi infant, last month in Kamankheda who died due to a sudden increase in the water level.

 

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