Directorate Tiger project Palamu is in a fix over allowing construction work to restart on the Mandal Dam. MP Singh, chief conservator of forest cum field director PTR said that necessary stage-1 clearance is yet to come.

“Stage-1 clearance has not come to us which gives in principle agreement to go ahead. Further the issue of rehabilitation of 15 villages and inclusion of non forest land in PTR along with felling of 350 lakhs of trees continue to be in limbo with no concrete word on it so far,” he said.

Centre’s agency Webcos has been given the job to complete the decades-old irrigation project.

The team of this local company is exerting pressure on directorate tiger project Palamu to allow them to work on the Mandal Dam.

Anil K Mishra deputy director North division under which comes Mandal Dam said, “As there is no specific stage-1 clearance there hangs this uncertainty with regard to the start of work on this dam.”

Irrigation department had given a proposal to PTR for diversion of 1007.

29 hectares of the forest land and had given its recommendation with conditions which was too cleared by state wild life board retaining those conditions as set by the PTR.

Sources said the condition was mainly focused on the relocation and rehabilitation of 15 villages of PTR which are to face submergence once the gates are installed in this dam.

 Further the condition read that equal non forest land in PTR be incorporated in tiger reserve.

Apart from these two major contentious issues there was the condition of falling down 3.50 lakh of trees in PTR.

Sources said the irrigation department Jharkhand is tightlipped on the issue of rehabilitation of 15 villages as it maintains these are already the rehabilitated ones and cannot be rehabilitated twice for the same single cause of Mandal Dam.