New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: Union Minister for Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan has today written a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik requesting him to provide enhanced compensation amount to the people displaced by the Rengali dam project and fulfill their seven-point charter of demands.
Pradhan mentioned in the letter that the Rengali multi-purpose river embankment project on the Brahmani River is the second-largest river embankment project in Odisha. While it greatly increased the state’s irrigation and power generation capacity, the project left thousands of displaced residents in perpetual misery for nearly five decades.
In 1973, 263 villages of Pallahada, Talcher of Angul and Deogarh district were submerged in water and about 13,000 families became homeless. Many had to suffer due to a lack of proper accommodation and compensation. Residents were forced to relocate without any clear resettlement policy or any gram sabhas or public hearings. There have been many protests, and hunger strikes, for justice, but there has been no change in the condition of the displaced people, he wrote.
Due to the lack of strong leadership, the victims have not received justice, which is unfortunate. More than 80 per cent of the poor, farmers, backward classes, and the downtrodden and tribal communities feel neglected and humiliated today because they do not have the means to approach the court, Pradhan said.
The Union Minister has sought the cooperation of the Chief Minister to fulfil all the demands of the displaced people as soon as possible.
Pradhan expressed the hope that the state government will show sincerity in such a sensitive issue and take timely measures to give the displaced people their dues.
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