ROURKELA: AMID strong political resistance to the massive eviction attempt of South Eastern Railway (SER) for Jharsuguda-Rourkela third line on Mumbai-Howrah route, the Sundargarh district administration has put the ball in SER’s court on the issue of rehabilitation of affected families. At a meeting convened at Sundargarh town recently, Collector Surendra Kumar Meena asked the SER to provide land for rehabilitation of the affected slum dwellers.
The SER’s local officials said they would communicate the matter to higher authorities for appropriate action. The Collector told this paper that the SER has land bank and it was decided to seek 20 acres from SER, so that the district administration can rehabilitate them through affordable housing scheme. The Central housing scheme for all has a clause in which land of Central or State governments could be used for the purpose. If the SER agrees, eviction would be taken up in a phased manner smoothly, he added. Sources said steps are being taken ahead of monsoon as the SER is seeking to remove above 4,000 slum residents belonging to 766 households between Malgodam and Panposh to pave the way for the third rail line project.
The administration also favours a permanent solution as after eviction, the affected persons may be forced to encroach other vacant land of SER or Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP). But the decision has not gone down well with the SER authorities. SER’s divisional spokesperson Bhaskar, in a guarded reply, said they are yet to receive the minutes of the meeting, adding that he is not in a position to comment without going through the legalities of the issue. In a revised proposal, the SER wants to evict 766 households to clear 25 metres from Rourkela- Birmitrapur track on northern side for the third rail line project.
It has also proposed to clear encroachment along the up track on the southern side for future project which would affect 801 households. After the SER’s fresh action, the ruling BJD, led by Sundargarh unit working president and Chairman of Rourkela Development Authority (RDA) SP Nayak, had organised a protest demanding rehabilitation before eviction a few days ago.