Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has instructed the tehsildar of Remuna in Balasore district to provide homestead land to several daily wagers before evicting them from a plot at Shrikrushnapur village where the victims have been staying for 50 years.
The district administration had November 6, 2020 asked the poor families to leave the place within six days on the pretext that the land would be used for road construction purpose.
The victims have been staying in makeshift houses on the said plot after the district authorities demolished the same in January this year.
The OHRC remarked that the order by the district authorities to vacate the land is unfortunate as the petitioners are the worst-hit during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Hearing a petition filed by another rights activist Pradipta Kumar Pradhan, the OHRC warned the district administration against the eviction of the families without providing an alternative suitable and habitable land to them. The rights panel also asked the victim families to submit applications to the tehsildar for land and other benefits under various government schemes within seven days of the delivery of the order.
It urged the administration to begin the developmental work only after making adequate arrangements for the poor families.