Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh asked the Akhilesh Yadav government to “immediately suspend construction until cases of compensation are resolved”. In a statement, Singh said: “UP has begun construction of the dam without complying with the terms and conditions, overlooking interests of Chhattisgarh. The interests of farmers and villagers of the state will not be ignored.”
The irrigation dam, whose construction began last December, is coming up on the border of Sonbhadra and Balrampur district of Chhattisgarh. Locals from both the sides are protesting the construction for various reasons. The dam will allegedly submerge far more villages than claimed by the UP government previously and villagers are not even aware of it.
On Thursday, Singh asked his Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand to write a letter to his UP counterpart expressing strong objection to the construction of the dam. Chhattisgarh pointed out that according to an earlier survey by the UP government, four Chhattisgarh villages were to be affected comprising an area around 258.40 hectares. But, a subsequent report of the Survey of India noted that 263.40 hectare land would be affected.
Dhand wrote that the UP government has not yet sent a revised estimate of compensation according to the Survey of India’s report.
He also pointed out that Chhattisgarh had given a “conditional approval” for the project in July 2010 “only after accepting a proposal of the UP government that it would construct a safety ring to prevent the submergence of the land falling in Chhattisgarh”.
