National panel to review Polavaram R&R scheme
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The National Monitoring Committee for Rehabilitation and Resettlement (NMCRR) of the Department of Land Resources (Union Ministry of Rural Development) will review the implementation of Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) schemes for various projects, including that of Polavaram, apart from the the status of the land acquisition between August 2020 and May 2021, in a meeting to be held in virtual mode on August 18.
The committee will examine the compliance of the R&R scheme with the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 and the National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, 2007.
The meeting will also look into a representation by P. Pulla Rao, a noted economist and environmentalist, on the alleged eviction of tribal people from the Polavaram project area without appropriate compensation and implementation of the R&R package.
Mr. Pulla Rao has recently written a letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in this regard, requesting it to revive his case related to the rights of the tribal people in view of the non-fulfilment of their mandatory requirements by the Andhra Pradesh government.
He observed that the upstream cofferdam was causing water stagnation in about 50 tribal hamlets in East and West Godavari districts. The tribal residents were forced to leave their hamlets in the wake of submergence issues, he alleged.
Mr. Pulla Rao, in his letter to the NHRC, said that the commission closed the case without monitoring the implementation of its directions.
“The NMCRR had a few rounds of deliberations after the NHRC gave certain directions, but it stopped the review meetings in the wake coronavirus pandemic. No such meeting has been held in more than 20 months,” Mr. Pulla Rao informed the NHRC.
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