People's
Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) No. 51
December 29,2002
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) |
Vol.
XXVI No. 51 December 29,2002 |
Rehabilitate and Compensate Tehri Dam Oustees
GETTING
set
for
mass
actions
in
favour
of
Tehri
dam
oustees
in
the
state
capital
of
Uttaranchal,
a
delegation
of
the
CPI(M)
leaders
led
by
Somnath
Chatterjee
MP,
and
comprising
Brinda
Karat,
central
committee
member,
Vijai
Rawat,
secretary,
CPI(M)
Uttaranchal
state
committee
and
Bhagwan
Singh
Rana,
secretary,
CPI(M)
Tehri
district
committee,
met
the
prime
minister
in
New
Delhi
on
December
20
and
submitted
a
31
point
charter
of
demands
to
him
on
the
burning
Tehri
Dam
issue.
The
oustees
have
been
left
in
lurch
with
the
state
passing
the
buck
to
the
centre
and
the
centre
to
the
states.
The
CPI(M)
delegation
drew
the
attention
of
the
prime
minister
to
the
severe
problems
being
faced
by
the
dam
affected
population
in
view
of
the
steps
taken
by
the
central
as
well
as
the
state
governments
to
commence
construction
of
stage
1
on
March
2003.
The
tragedy
of
the
situation,
they
stated,
is
that
even
at
the
stage
of
identification
of
villages
to
be
submerged
partially
or
completely
has
not
been
completed.
Coming
from
the
Tehri
area
himself,
Rana
stressed
that
a
very
serious
and
perilous
situation
is
being
faced
by
thousands
of
peasants
of
Bhilangane
and
Bhagirathi
valleys,
and
it
was
both
a
rural
and
urban
problem.
The
charter
stated
that
the
population
of
the
old
Tehri
town
even
today
was
living
in
the
township
without
any
facilities.
The
delegation
impressed
up
on
the
prime
minister
that
the
genuine
demands
of
these
families
have
not
been
addressed
at
all.
The
purpose
of
settling
claims
and
rehabilitation
of
all
categories
of
submerged
land
should
be
taken
into
account,
they
said,
and
as
this
has
not
been
done
so
far,
it
was
causing
immense
problems
to
the
affected
population.
The
CPI(M)
over
the
last
few
months
has
been
agitating
over
these
issues
and
has
held
a
series
of
meetings
and
popular
panchayats
in
the
villages
of
the
affected
area.
A
mass
signature
campaign
was
also
launched.
The
prime
minister
was
handed
over
a
memorandum
signed
by
as
many
as
20,000
citizens
of
the
area.
The
party
demanded
the
prime
minister
to
intervene
in
the
interest
of
solving
the
serious
problems
of
the
people
of
Tehri.
The
prime
minister
assured
the
delegation
that
the
central
government
would
look
into
the
matter
sympathetically
and
will
convene
a
meeting
in
which
the
central
and
the
state
government
functionaries
will
participate
apart
from
representatives
of
the
political
parties.
Later
on
Rawat
and
Rana
told
pressmen
that
a
phased
agitation
would
begin
during
the
coming
assembly
session
demanding
action
from
the
governments.
After
having
already
held
a
convention
in
October,
the
CPI(M)
will
now
take
the
agitation
to
the
grassroots
level,
they
added.
