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Sunday, 11 October 2009

After the Bengal government, it is the turn of the DVC to face the heat over land acquisition

ADRA (PURULIA): After the Bengal government, it is the turn of the DVC to face the heat over land acquisition. Hundreds of villagers living on either side of the Bengal-Jharkhand border have launched an agitation demanding proper compensation and jobs for the families of those who had to give up their land for the Panchet dam 56 years ago.


The villagers have been sitting on a dharna since October 2 in front of the administrative building of DVC in Panchet. The agitation is being carried out under the banner of DVC Khotigrosto Sangram Samiti. Trinamool Congress and JMM have reportedly decided to extend moral support to the movement.


In 1953, 34,000 acres of land spread over villages in Bengal and Bihar (now Jharkhand) were acquired for the dam. Around 73,650 families living in over 100 villages 30-35 in Bengal were affected.


Basudeb Mallick, a resident of Santalpur in Dhanbad and secretary of the samiti, said: "The affected families had been told that they would be compensated, but nothing has happened."


Sraban Singha of Raibandh village in Nituria block of Purulia said they have asked the DVC management to open a dialogue with them by October 11. If the authorities fail to do so, the protesters will disrupt work at the dam, he warned.


Animesh Mukherjee, chief engineer of DVC's Panchet project, said the corporation had given jobs to 4,862 affected villagers in the 1950s. Then, in 1977, a compensation package was announced and jobs were given to another 102 people. "If the villagers have valid documents, they should approach the SDO with their claims," he added.


CPM MP Basudeb Acharya had raised the issue in Parliament and urged DVC to employ the kin of those affected. Charan Bauri, a JMM leader in Nituria, said many of the landless are now too old to work. "How much can they be compensated after so many decades?" he asked. Trinamool's S P Yadav echoed his views.

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