Lok Sabha Members Demand Alternate Sadhugram Site, Action on Pong Dam Rehab and Drug Crisis in Meghalaya

A strong demand was made in the Lok Sabha for an alternate site to develop a ‘Sadhugram’ in Nashik instead of building it in the Tapovan area by felling over 1,800 trees.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Shiv Sena-UBT member Rajabhau Waje urged the Centre to stop the development of Sadhugram at Tapovan ahead of the 2027 Kumbh Mela in Nashik-Trimbakeshwar.

Waje said locals of Nashik-Trimbakeshwar have been opposing the felling of trees in Tapovan and urged the Centre to look for an alternative site.

BJP member Anurag Thakur raised the issue of the Pong Dam project-affected persons from Himachal Pradesh who were to be rehabilitated in Rajasthan.

Thakur, a former Union minister, said 6,500 families were still awaiting rehabilitation in the project that was taken up in 1970 during the Congress government.

“Fifty years ago, the then Congress Government promised land allocation in Rajasthan to the displaced families from 339 villages — 20,772 families — for the construction of the Pong Dam in Kangra, Himachal, and that promise remains unfulfilled to this day,” Thakur said.

He demanded that the Centre set up inter-ministerial consultations with Jal Shakti and Home ministries and setting up of a joint task force of the Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh Governments to speed up rehabilitation efforts.

Congress MP from Meghalaya, Saleng A Sangma, said more than three lakh youth aged 15-29 are drug addicts, and thousands are suffering from HIV/AIDS in the north-eastern state.

“In Meghalaya, there is no rehabilitation centre and no system in place to offer convenience for patients. I request through you to the Government to set up at least 2-3 rehabilitation centres,” Sangma said.