KOLKATA | April 07, 2016: Authorities in Chhattisgarh must deliver on their commitments and ensure that adequate compensation and rehabilitation is provided to Adivasi families forcibly evicted for a coal mine in Raigarh, said Amnesty International India in a statement released on Wednesday.
"The evictions in Bankheta were carried out without genuine consultation with the communities, or adequate compensation and rehabilitation being given," said Aruna Chandrasekhar, Business and Human Rights Officer at Amnesty International India. "The Chhattisgarh authorities must now ensure that no more forced evictions take place, and affected communities get the remedy they deserve."
The affected families, victims of a human rights violation, must be provided with the full range of effective remedies, the statement mentioned.
Amnesty International alleged that on 1 April, officials from the state revenue department demolished three houses belonging to two families - including a Gond Adivasi family - in Bankheta village in the district of Raigarh for the expansion of the Gare Pelma IV/4 open cast coal mine.
The mine is operated by Hindalco Industries, a part of the Aditya Birla group of companies. Human rights defenders protesting the evictions were detained briefly for allegedly obstructing public servants. The government had acquired land for the mine in 2010, the statement mentioned.
Kandarpa Raj Sidar, a Gondi Adivasi man whose house was demolished, said, "Authorities asked us to vacate our houses and told us to take a cheque as compensation for surface rights. We told them that we are Gond and Birhor Adivasis, why don't they follow the rehabilitation laws before evicting us?"
Over a hundred families in Bankheta remain at risk of evictions. Among them are over a dozen families from the Birhor Adivasi community, classified as a "particularly vulnerable tribal group" by the government of India.
The rehabilitation and resettlement plan for the mining project was prepared in accordance with the Chhattisgarh state rehabilitation policy of 2007. This policy states that displaced families are eligible to be allocated alternate land or housing in addition to compensation. The families in Bankheta whose houses were demolished have not yet received adequate compensation or rehabilitation. The Revenue Inspector of Raigarh's Tamnar Block told Amnesty International India on 1 April, "The communities will get whatever is due to them in the future."
(Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/)