Chhattisgarh: After 48-year-long battle, 8,560 families displaced by Gangrel dam get justice

RAIPUR: The decades-long struggle by the people displaced by the Gangrel dam project launched in 1972, came to an end with the Chhattisgarh High Court issuing order to the state to suitably compensate the 8,560 affected families within three months. 

The court also issued a directive to rehabilitate the families by providing them land.

The project was launched during the erstwhile Madhya Pradesh state in Dhamtari district, some 90 km from Raipur, which led to the evacuation of 55 villages that were later submerged, and the inhabitants were given the assurance of suitable compensation in return.

Gangrel is the longest dam in Chhattisgarh built on the Mahanadi river and supplies water for irrigation.

“The displaced people affected by the Gangrel dam project were merely given Rs 10 to a maximum of Rs 250 as compensation”, stated Sandeep Dubey, the counsel who pleaded on behalf of the third-generation oustees before the court.

The displaced families, about 90% of them were tribals, had moved the Jabalpur Gigh Court seeking appropriate compensation and rehabilitation.

The hearing of the plea continued in the Chhattisgarh high court at Bilaspur for 20 years, the lawyer added.