Bhubaneswar, Dec 12: The BJD government in Odisha seems to have failed to provide the required support to families who were displaced by the Rengali Multipurpose Dam project four decades ago. The lackadaisical attitude of the Naveen Patnaik government looks clear now. Though the poor displaced families have been holding Jal Satyagraha to press for their legitimate demands for the last 11 days, the Government is yet to respond to them.

Expressing deep concern, Union Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Dharmendra Pradhan wrote to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday, requesting him to provide extended compensation to the displaced families and fulfill all seven demands.

In the letter, Pradhan mentioned that the dam project on the Brahmani River is the second-largest dam project in Odisha. While it greatly increased the state's irrigation and power generation capacity, the project has left thousands of displaced families in perpetual misery for the last four decades. It has hurt us, he wrote.

In 1973, 263 villages of Talchera, Pallahara and Deogarh districts were submerged in water and about 13,000 families became homeless by the project. Many had to suffer due to a lack of resettlement and compensation. Residents were forced to be replaced without any gram sabha, palli sabha or public hearing. By now, they have held many protests, hunger strikes for justice. However, there is no change in their condition.

More than 80 percent of the poor families, tribals, farmers, and backward classes feel neglected and humiliated today because they do not have the means to approach the doors of the courts. They have even considered this as the stepmotherly attitude of the State government towards the Gadajat region.

The displaced families are now staging Jala Satyagrah seeking fulfillment of their legitimate seven demands. Even they have threatened to take watery graves in the reservoir. So the State government should act on this sensitive issue and provide all their dues, hoped Pradhan.

The seven demands include compensation of Rs 50,000 per acre, provision of permanent leases, permanent job for a member of each displaced family, ration card and health insurance scheme for the families, construction of Samakoi barrage and provision of lifetime free electricity generated at Rengali Power House.

Local BJP leaders have demanded that the local MLA and the MP meet the CM and fulfill all demands of the displaced soon.
The displaced people, who are staging the Jala Satyagarh, have threatened to take Jal Samadhi (watery grave) on December 13.

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