Tribals in Chhattisgarh, Odisha to be displaced

The controversial Polavaram irrigation project in Andhra Pradesh, which has been accorded national status, is likely to displace more than 18,000 tribals from both Chhattisgarh and Odisha. The two States have informed about the displacement numbers to the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry, which, subsequently, apprised the Department of land Resources (DolR) under the Union Rural Development Ministry of it. 

The Rural Development Ministry is overseeing the implementation of the land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act. While 12,978 tribals will be displaced in Chhattisgarh, 5,707 will be affected in Odisha due to the project. Representatives of the two State Governments informed the Tribal Affairs Ministry about the numbers during the meeting of the National Monitoring Committee (NMC) held on May 25.

“The two States also complained to the Tribal Affairs Ministry that compensation was yet to be made to the tribals who will be displaced due to the upcoming project,” a senior official from the DolR said on conditions of anonymity.The official said that since the DolR was unaware of the ramifications of the project outside Andhra Pradesh, it has for its part asked the Chandrababu Naidu Government too to give details of the people displaced and compensation paid so far to them in the case.

The Ministry also felt that since Polavaram dam has been declared a national project, the Andhra Pradesh Government should inform in writing whether compensation has been paid to all land owners whose land has been acquired and whether rehabilitation and resettlement process has been completed or not.

“Citing NGOs’ representation alleging that people were still being evicted, the Ministry also asked the Andhra Pradesh Government to prove its claim that the entire displacement process has been completed. The NGOs have substantiated their claim through photographs depicting the physical eviction of the people from the local site,” the official added.

Polavaram Project, named ‘Indira Sagar’, is a multi-purpose irrigation project across the Godavari River and it is said that it would submerge agricultural land and forest land in Odisha and Chdattisgarh.In March, the AP Government, ignoring the protests from the two States opposing the dam, had announced its decision to go ahead with the multi-irrigation project. Conceived in the 1940s, the irrigation project is likely to irrigate over seven lakh acres in Andhra Pradesh and produce 960 MW of hydel energy. The project is estimated to cost `20,000 crore.