Koraput: Between 1960-64, more than 20 villages were relocated in Sunabeda of Koraput for the establishment of state-owned enterprise Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), but they have not been properly resettled till date. In a press conference, the representatives of a state fact-finding team who came to study the incident expressed their opinion that it is very reprehensible and unfortunate that they were resettled unjustly through bulldozer rule on January 21 instead of being resettled fairly. In this press conference held at Koraput Guest House, Lok Shakti Abhiyan State President Prafulla Samantara, Rajangiri Security Committee Adviser Lingaraj Azad, National Alliance of Public Movements (NAPM) and Anti-False Litigation Campaign State Convenor Narendra Mohanty, researcher Sandeep Patnaik, senior lawyer Gupteswargrahi attended the compensation to six deserving families and bulldozer Raj. He demanded the removal of the policy. On the morning of January 21 last, before the people woke up, Hal’s security forces, Semiliguda police station officials, Tehsildar police force and bulldozers forcibly demolished the houses of Chetanya Burudi, Kamlu Khilo, Raghu Kinubudi, Haribandhu Khilo, Malsa Devalpadiya, Vaskar Fish of Talaput village and destroyed their furniture worth lakhs of rupees. Their bulldozer razing was stopped after local residents protested. He alleged that items kept for the 15-day naming ceremony (Ekoisha) of Chaitanya Burudi’s wife Saraswati Burudi were destroyed and jewelery worth Rs.55 lakh was looted or lost. Similarly, Anita and Sunita, the two daughters of Malsa Devalgadia, have also made the same complaint. They alleged that their rice paddies were broken while they were in progress and Rs.5 lakh and jewelery were looted. The report of the research team revealed that in 1961, 10 villages such as Talaput, Sindhiput, Pangiguda, Billeguda, Khadinga, Chulapari, Godiguda, Chakraliput, Chaparika and Maliguda were completely displaced in Semiliguda tehsil for the establishment of Hal. Villages like Jadaguda, Old Sunabeda, Rajpalma, Rajput and Anthalput were partially displaced. Therefore, a total of 11713.18 acres of land was acquired, of which 7641.62 acres were private land and 4071.56 acres of public land, of which 3121.15 acres were given to Hal. Because people were ignorant then, they were displaced with little and no compensation. But then they were not properly rehabilitated or rehabilitated. As a result, about 100 of the displaced families have been building houses and farming in Talaput, Sindhiput and Pangiguda villages since 1988. Since 1988, the displaced have been peacefully agitating for their rehabilitation and rehabilitation by forming Hal Displaced Association, but the tehsil and district administrative officials are not listening to their demands. Even in 1991, 1994 and 1999, their temporary houses were demolished or set on fire jointly by Hal and the police administration. In 1999, they protested the construction of an enclosure wall by Hull on their farm. In 2013, a displaced colony for 85 families was built in Mohanpada village to provide housing to the displaced families, which the villagers of Mohanpada protested and over 40 people were jailed. The displaced refused to move to the resettlement colony due to lack of livelihood opportunities and the High Court stayed the administrative efforts to forcefully evict them and leave them in the resettlement colony. According to the proposal of the meeting organized by Koraput Deputy District Collector at Semiliguda Tehsil Office on 7th July 2012 (Letter No.: Memo No. 4523/12 and Memo No. 4524/12), Koraput District Collector and Hal General Manager were asked to take appropriate steps to lease land to the displaced families, but it has not been implemented so far. In this regard, they demanded a proper investigation into this unfortunate and reprehensible incident, proper rehabilitation and compensation of all the displaced families as per the Land Acquisition Act-2013, proper compensation to the six families who were forcefully demolished and criminal proceedings against the government officials and Hal officials who took such illegal steps.
Roop Khara reports from Koraput