Shimla, August 17, 2015: A deputation of Pong Dam oustees led by Vice Chairman, HP State Forest Corporation Shri Kewal Singh Pathania called on Chief Minister Shri Virbhadra Singh here today. They urged the Chief Minister to shift the office of land and acquisition officer from Talwara to Jawali as was earlier.
They said that the land at Ganganagar in Rajasthan had not been handed over to the oustees till date. The Rajasthan government was not serious to solve the vexed issue of land allotment for Pong Dam oustees and has shown its inability to re-locate ownership and remove encroachers, they resented.
They urged the Chief Minister to take up the issue once again with the Rajasthan government. They also urged that the deposits/funds of Pong Dam Oustees Development Agency (PODA), an agency constituted for the welfare of the Pong Dam oustees who had lost their houses and land in the project, be used or given only to the families of the oustees.
The Chief Minister assured that whenever in near future a committee from Rajasthan will come to discuss the issue of rehabilitation, the Pong Dam Oustees association would certainly be invited.
It was worth mentioning here the Rajasthan government offered 3,500 murabas land, mostly arid and without proper irrigation facilities to the Pong Dam oustees.