In the midst of brouhaha over raising the Sardar Sarovar Dam's height and the expiration of deadline for relocation of oustees a day earlier, the Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) on Tuesday said that the Madhya Pradesh Government would not hesitate from taking recourse to stringent measures to save the lives of those not vacating the submergence zone.
While talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday, NVDA vice-chairman Rajneesh Vaish told, “Initially, a total of 23,614 families were being affected. Of them, 5,551 families relocated to Gujarat whereas 12,577 families relocated in Madhya Pradesh earlier.”
Presently, only 177 villages and not 198 villages as being reported are being affected. Of them, families in 106 villages too have relocated. All affected villages in Khargone and Alirajpur were vacated. Only 4,618 families in 37 villages of Dhar and 2,391 families in 32 villages of Barwani are still to be relocated, he said.
Vaish further said that those affected have been provided several benefits earlier. Presently, 681 families who never took a special package were provided Rs 60 lakh each in pursuance of the Supreme Court's directive.
“Besides, 943 families who availed the benefit of special package earlier were provided additional Rs 15 lakh each,”, he said, adding that the government provided Rs 5.80 lakh each to families who opted for rehabilitation to build houses. Several other benefits were also doled out. He said that Madhya Pradesh would get additional power to the tune of Rs 228 cr with the project's completion, he added.