Raigarh: Gopal Agarwal, a trader from Old Lakha village in Raigarh district in Chhattisgarh, was among more than a hundred villagers, who were displaced from their native land for the Kelo dam project a decade ago.
The survey of the low-lying village and disbursement of compensation commenced in 2009 for construction of the dam project before shifting the oustees to New Lakha village on an elevated land.
However, more than 10 years have passed and over a 100 households including Agrawal who had been evicted from their fertile land at Old Lakha for acquisition of land for construction of the dam are waiting for full compensation from the state government, but to no avail.
Kelo dam, built around 2012 over River Kelo, one of the tributaries of River Mahanadi in Raigarh district before the river enters Odisha, has been the bone of contention between Odisha and Chhattisgarh governments.
“Although the residents of Old Lakha were given plots in New Lakha, many were given compensation for their trees, cattle and wells. However, they are yet to get the total compensation for their displacement,” Agarwal told Orissa POST.
He said none of the households entitled for abadi land compensation has got it. The Chhattisgarh government owes him `11 lakh for which he had been running from pillar to post for the past ten years, he claimed.
Like Agarwal there are many who have lost their land and are miffed with the Chattisgarh government for the alleged injustice meted out to them due to delay. “Many farmers have lost their land in the process. We were living happily in Old Lakha which was close to River Kelo and many farmers reaped a rich harvest on its banks before the dam snatched it all,” said Sashika Gadtia, a resident of New Lakha village.
They got compensation for their fertile land but it was meagre compared to their assurances, she told this newspaper. “In the process, many farmers turned into daily wage labourers as they lost their precious land. The terrain and soil in the new village did not support farming,” Sashika added.
Many other villagers expressed similar despondency. The Kelo dam was envisioned by the Chattisgarh government to irrigate villages in drought-prone areas of Raigarh district, but it has done precious little to provide irrigation to affected villages more than six years after it was built.
Ramesh Agarwal, a leading environmentalist from Raigarh told
Orissa POST, “The state has failed to use the water for providing irrigation to farmers while it is being consumed by a few the industries. It is being used to dump garbage and effluents into the water by such industries.”
Odisha government has complained that the dam is being used to restrict free flow of water from Mahanadi and its tributaries like Kelo into Odisha.