The Odisha State Human Rights Commission (OSHRC) has ordered the Kendrapada district Collector and the Patamundai Canal Division to investigate and submit a report within four weeks on the eviction notice issued to 44 Dalit families of village Ghagra in the district.
Human Rights activist Sangeeta Swain in a petition to the National Human Rights Commission on January 21, 2016 had alleged that the Kendrapada administration has issued eviction notices to 44 Dalit families of village Ghagra.
The families were rehabilitated at the embankment of Pattamundai Canal in the district as they had left their village in 1999 after their houses were damaged in the Super Cyclone.
The affected persons who are extremely poor pray that they be first rehabilitated and then question of eviction would arise, Swain stated in her petition to the NHRC. The petition was received by OSHRC on transfer from the NHRC for disposal.