BHUBANESWAR: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday directed the Chief Secretary to submit a detailed report on Indravati project and constitute a team of officials to look into the issues of people displaced by the project within 12 weeks.
Acting on a petition filed by rights campaigner Radhakanta Tripathy, the Commission also asked Special Rapporteur Damodar Sarangi to visit villages affected by the project and assess ground realities within eight weeks.
The petitioner had alleged that about one lakh people in over 100 villages are cut off from the rest of the State after the project commenced. Acting on an earlier petition filed by Tripathy, the Commission had also directed the Chief Secretary to constitute a team of officials to look into the issue of displaced people in 2013.
‘’But the Government is yet to constitute the team. Neither the Collectors nor the Chief Secretary submitted any reply despite lapse of time granted to them,’’ Tripathy said.
In the petition, he had highlighted displacement of more than 15,000 families, which included Scheduled Tribes, dalits and poor farmers from Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Rayagada districts.