SAMBALPUR: Displaced persons of Hirakud dam on Friday demanded review of the Government list of land oustees and compensation to be paid to them.
Under the aegis of Budi Anchal Sangram Samiti (BASS), they submitted a memorandum addressed to the Revenue Minister through Revenue Divisional Commissioner (North) with copies marked to the Chief Minister.
They alleged that the Government’s list of dam oustees was not exhaustive. There are still 6693 families including 320 jhankars (village priests) and chowkidars (watchmen) whose names are missing from the list prepared by the State Government and hence, have been denied of compensation.
They claimed that total 26,502 families of 369 villages had been displaced and not 22,144 families of 249 villages as mentioned by the Government.
Negating the claim of the State Government on giving 10 decimals of homestead land to the oustees, they said none of them has been allotted land though thousands of applications are pending in different offices of Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Bargarh and Sonepur districts.
In the memorandum, they demanded recognition to 34 villages, whose people were resettled in areas acquired by Water Resources Department, 21 villages in Lakhapur block of Jharsuguda district and 13 villages in Rengali block of Sambalpur district, in the periphery of Hirakud dam reservoir, as revenue villages. State Government had earlier given revenue village status to 10 of these villages.
Pointing out to the dwindling fish population in Hirakud dam reservoir, they said majority of the displaced who have resettled in the periphery of the reservoir depend on fishing. Alleging that industrial effluents released into the reservoir was taking toll on fish population, they demanded a long term plan to develop pisciculture in the reservoir.
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A total 26,502 families of 369 villages had been displaced and not 22,144 families of 249 villages as mentioned by the Government
They negated the claim of the State Government that it had provided 10 decimals of homestead land to the oustees in Sambalpur
The agitators alleged that there are still 6693 families whose names are missing from the list prepared by the State Government