Bolangir: Tension prevailed at Koindapali village here Tuesday as locals gathered at the Lower Suktel dam site and stopped the construction work demanding compensation.
They staged a demonstration despite the presence of police force at the site. However, no untoward incident was reported during their stir. The villagers are opposing the mega irrigation project being constructed on river Suktel as they will be affected by it.
The villagers alleged that the government is constructing the dam without paying compensation to the affected villagers and demanded to stop all construction works till their demands are met.
Rabindra Sahu, special land acquisition officer of the project, and other officials rushed to the spot and held talks with the villagers.
Sahu assured them that they will take up the compensation issue and other demands at the Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC) meeting to be held May 18. However, the villagers rejected the assurances claiming that the government had earlier ‘cheated the people’ affected by such projects at different points of time.
The villagers are yet to receive complete and fair amount of compensation though the project work was launched in 2001. They have been demanding compensation on the basis of Land Acquisition Act 2013 after the new law came into force.
The government has announced ex-gratia for the project-affected people but that too is not paid fully and at a single point of time, the villagers said.
The villagers also alleged that the decisions taken at RPDAC meetings are often not implemented. They, however, relented after Sahu announced that the state government has made arrangements for compensation on the basis of Land Acquisition Act 2013.
