Uttarakhand HC seeks eviction plan for residents of Kalagarh Dam area
Uttarakhand HC seeks eviction plan for residents of Kalagarh Dam area
Nainital, The Uttarakhand High Court has given further one week's time to the state government to come up with an eviction plan for families residing illegally in the Kalagarh Dam area in Pauri district.
A division bench of the high court comprising Justice G Narendar and Justice Alok Mehra on Monday asked the state government to submit an affidavit by May 5 giving details of the plan for the eviction of people living on the encroached land which belongs to the forest and irrigation departments.
Though most of the area of the dam lies in Uttar Pradesh, the electricity and forest departments of Uttarakhand are responsible for the encroached dam area.
Chief standing counsel C S Rawat said the court was informed that in compliance with an order issued by it earlier, officials of both states held a meeting to discuss an eviction plan for the said population.
However, Uttar Pradesh clarified its stand on the issue at the meeting saying there is no policy for rehabilitation of illegal encroachers, the high court was told.
As the encroached property lies within the territory of Uttarakhand and notices have also been served by Pauri District Magistrate to the residents of the dam area in the matter, the high court gave one more week to the state government to submit an eviction plan.
According to the PIL filed in the case, the Uttar Pradesh government had acquired several thousand hectares of land in 1960 from the forest department and given it to the irrigation department for the construction of the dam.
After the completion of the dam, the remaining land was given back. However, retired employees encroached upon some of the land.
The state government is now relocating 213 people who have stayed in the area for decades.
Earlier, the court had asked concerned officers from both the states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh to hold a meeting and come up with a plan and submit it before the court by April 28.
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