"We want rehabilitation and resettlement of all the oustees of the Maheshwar, Omkareshwar, Indira Sagar, Man and Beda dams as per the rehabilitation and resettlement policy. Thousands of oustees from these dams will be camping in Bhopal from June 18 to June 22," Alok Agrawal, chief activist NBA said.
The state government had recently announced a Rs 212 crore package for the Omkareshwar dam oustees. This includes an extra payment of Rs 2 lakh per acre for farmers and Rs 2.5 lakh for landless families.
Also Read
"We can accept Rs 2.5 lakh compensation for landless people but we cannot accept Rs 2 lakh for farmers. We want at least five acres of land for each adult member of the affected family. We do not subscribe to the state government rehabilitation package," he said, adding, "We want land against land."
If state government offers land against land it will have to arrange nearly 50,000 hectare of land as Omkareshwar has 7,000 affected people, 40,000 in Indira Sagar, 2,000 in Man and Beda project and 10,000 in Maheshwar hydro power project.
The announcement of Rs 2 lakh per acre of acquired land for the displaced farmers is completely inadequate and is in violation of the Rehabilitation and Resettlement policy and the judgments of the Supreme Court, he said.
The Narmada Bachao Andolan demands that the R&R Policy for the Narmada oustees should not be confined to Omkareshwar dam alone.
For the last seven years, the Omkareshwar dam oustees have been fighting for their rights, under the aegis of the Narmada Bachao Andolan. The demand for a grant of Rs 2.5 lakhs for landless families was one of the prime demands of the Jal Satyagraha, NBA had observed in recent past.
Supreme Court decision dated May 11, 2011, on the question of the land entitlements of the land oustees of the Omkareshwar dam, held that every displaced farmer must be given a minimum of 2 hectare or 5 acres of agricultural land.