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BD Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, March 25
Residents of villages from Chuka near Tanakpur to Jhoolaghat near the Nepal border have decided not to oppose the construction of the power project and the dam on the Kali river at Pancheshwar after they were informed through newspapers about the agreement between India and Nepal. Instead they are demanding proper rehabilitation and compensation.
The India-Nepal Joint Action Forum formed by Nepalese intellectuals with the intention to struggle for the rights of the villagers likely to be ousted due to the multipurpose project is mobilising the views of the people of the Pancheshwar valley. The Pancheshwar Bandh Doob Kshetra Sangharsh Samiti, formed by residents of the Pancheswar valley at Jhoolaghat in 2010, has become vocal and is seeking information about the rehabilitation package that the governments of both countries have mooted for the people likely to be uprooted due to the project. “We have sent a demand charter to the Union Power Minister demanding proper rehabilitation of people likely to be ousted due to the construction of the dam,” says Chandra Shekhar Bhatt, president of the samiti
He says, “We want the people likely to be affected due to the dam to be taken into confidence before its construction begins”.
Sources in the Pancheshwar Development Authority at Tanakpur state if the dam of the proposed height is built on the Kali river, villages situated above 2,400 feet from Pancheswar to Dharchula along the Kali, from Ghat to Sherghat along the Saryu and from Ghat to Thal along the Ramganga will get submerged in the dam water. “The place where the 315-metre high dam is proposed is 430 metre from the sea level,” say the sources.
Bhatt says they will support the construction of the dam only if a good rehabilitation package is worked out for the people likely to affected. “According to an initial estimate, over 40,000 persons from 7,000 families in 40 Indian villages will be affected due to the project,” he adds.
QUOTE
}We have sent a demand charter to the Union Power Minister demanding proper rehabilitation of people likely to be ousted due to the construction of the dam. —Chandra Shekhar Bhatt, Chief, Pancheshwar bandh doob kshetra sangharsh samiti
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