It is observed that most of the postings in this group pertain to complaints
against the working of Govt. depts., be it corruption or non-response to
querries or inaction wherever required..etc.
And most postings are from educated netizens and belong NGO-s and are capable
of taking up the matter with concerend authorities at different levelks right
to the Chief Minister or PM in the matters concerned.
Instead of airing such grievances of the rehabilitation of displaced tribals in
this case, what has DUNGDUNG done to get justice for these tribals? Could he
not visit the officer-in-charge of the project and hand over an official
complaint and aor the information under RTI act?
--- On Sat, 9/6/08, Gladson Dungdung <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
From: Gladson Dungdung <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: No Respite
To:
Date: Saturday, September 6, 2008, 6:35 AM
Jharkhand Forum
Tehelka.com
No Respite
Poorly rehabilitated, adivasi families displaced by the Malay Dam in 1983 in
Palamu of Jharkhand are now accused of encroaching on forest land
GLADSON DUNGDUNG
The adivasis, mostly the victims of the development process in India, rarely
reap the benefits of it. The three buzz words – compensation, rehabilitation
and development—are widely propagated during the land acquisition for dams,
industries, mining companies, power plants and other development projects but
ground realities the displaced masses live with are different. The agony of 56
Chero adivasi families who were displaced in 1983 during the construction of
Malay Dam, situated at Satbarwa block of Palamu district in Jharkhand,
discloses the truth of how the displaced struggle for survival after being
betrayed in the name of compensation, rehabilitation and development.
These Adivasis had been living in Katautia and Dodang villages for generations,
now submerged by the reservoir of the Malay Dam. They had adequate agricultural
land, where they used to cultivate paddy, wheat, mustard, pulse and vegetables
for their consumption and the surpluses were sold in the local market to meet
other needs. 70 year-old Ganeshi who owned 29.85 acres of fertile land,
received merely Rs. 36,000 as compensation and became a daily wage labourer
says, "My family members were never used to earning livelihood from daily
wages. We had more than enough land to sustain our families for years." "None
of 56 families had ever been labourers but we were simply betrayed in the name
of rehabilitation. Now we have only daily wages as a major source to sustain
our families," he added.
According to the Land Acquisition Act 1894, the affected families must be
served a notice prior to land acquisition. Here, the construction of dam was
initiated in 1980 without any information. The purpose of dam was to irrigate
approximately 65 thousand acres of land in three development blocks – Satbarwa,
Lesliganj and Daltonganj. The Adivasis were promised adequate compensation for
their land, government jobs to all 56 families and rehabilitation with all
facilities including hospital, school, drinking water, paved road and
electricity. Their village was supposed to be a model for the district.
But even these promises did not convince the Adivasis to leave their ancestral
land. They resisted the displacement. According to 65 year-old Budhan, their
fight with the police with their traditional weapons including bows and arrows
continued till the dam was almost ready in 1983, when they were asked to vacate
the village. When they refused, the police arrived at night, put them in trucks
and were taken to the Land Acquisition Office in Daltonganj and locked up. They
were threatened with dire consequences if attempted an escape. "Police told us
if we agreed to vacate the village we are safe. Otherwise our remaining goods
would go under water," said Budhan.
Finally, the Adivasis were dumped in a new area and the village was named
"Kushikarma" . They were compensated for their multi-cropping land at two
thousand per acre, plus the revenue from the rabbi harvest. All 56 families
were given plots in the hilly area for their houses. But merely 34 of them were
given government jobs as peons in the irrigation department, 22 of them are
still in the waiting list. Their struggle for livelihood began in their new
village situated in the hills, where only maize could be cultivated. They
started clearing trees and bushes for agriculture to sustain their families,
but the forest department termed them encroachers. They filed cases against all
56 families alleging they were cutting trees and encroaching on forest land. A
few of them were put behind bars but escaped after bribing the forest officials.
When Bhudhan cleared bushes to grow crops, he was thrown behind bars for a year
and is still not off the legal hook. He fears going to jail a second time. The
nightmare of displacement has stayed with him. He says, "We had demanded that
they shoot all 56 families rather than move us to some barren land. This would
have spared us of the pain of having to die everyday. The local MLA Indarsingh
Namdhari was for the dam. He had said that as long as the Palamu farmers got
water for their land, the submergence would not be a cause for concern.
35 year-old Lalan was merely 10 years old when his family was asked to part
with their 21.62 acres of land, providing for their subsistence. Apart from the
monetary compensation package and the plot for the house, his brother was given
the job of the peon in the irrigation department. When the family settled down
at Kushikarma village, Lalan started clearing bushes and prepared a few patches
of land. But his desperate hunt for livelihood was soon declared illegal. The
case against him, again, for encroaching on forest land was only withdrawn
after bribing a forest department official.
The water from the Malay dam never reached to the proposed areas of Lesliganj,
where 10 Dalits families died of starvation in 2004. They were agricultural
labourers but did not get work due to drought. Ironically, the canal from the
dam passes close to the rehabilitated village "Kushikarma" but never reaches
them. If the displaced people had gotten water to irrigate their barren land,
they could have gone for two crops. Now, the male members migrate to Punjab,
Gujarat and Delhi in search of livelihood. Kushikarma still does not have a
school or a health centre.
Only 30 families remain in the village, others have migrated. A few of them
returned to the dam site where they at least get the opportunity to cultivate
the rabbi crop and fish in the reservoir. The state cabinet of Jharkhand has
passed the Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy 2008, hailed as a panacea for
addressing the issue of displacement but this does not cover the already
rehabilitated. But, if the government cannot rehabilitate a mere 56 families,
how will they rehabilitate the masses? For the 'development' and displacements
have only begun.
