Udupi: Houses Demolished, Families evicted in Alleged Forceful Operation at Nagarjuna Site
Pics: Ashirvad - Udupi
Daijiworld Media Network—Udupi (RD/CN)
Udupi, Jun 6: The issue of setting up of the Nagarjuna Power Plant in the district that had been pushed to the background for the past few months came to the fore once again on Friday June 5, due to an unexpected development.
On Friday, three houses located on the project site were demolished despite resistance from the locals.
The houses of Somayya Moolya, Deju Shetty and Gopi Poojary, demolition of which had posed a grave problem for the project management, were pulled down by the district administration in a clandestine operation jointly launched with the help of Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board and the company, amidst heavy police security.
This move of the district administration has raised concerns over the welfare of displaced families despite the efforts being made by the Anti-Nagarjuna Committee formed by the local residents and people’s representatives since the last several years, to fight against the setting-up of the coal-based power plant in this ecologically sensitive belt.
The demolition has cleared the obstacles to power plant had been facing at the project site in Taje in Yellur gram panchayat.
Meanwhile, the locals are worried over the inaction of the Anti-Nagarjuna Committee in saving the homes of the three families in the monsoon season, when it’s difficult to make alternate arrangements for accommodation.
The locals also are worried that the people’s representatives will also prove ineffective at this crucial moment when they badly need their support to fight against Nagarjuna that is on its way to completing the rest of the work and early commissioning.
It is learnt, the petitions filed by the three families and also Balakrishna Shetty, honorary president of Nandikoor Janajagruti Samiti against the acquisition of the properties, had been recently dismissed by the High Court. KIADB thereafter, had issued five notices to the families, to vacate the lands. Upon the failure of the families to vacate these premises even after these developments and in view of the fact that the land in question has been granted to the project by the government, the emergency operation had to be undertaken, said revenue inspector of KIADB, Balakrishna Rai. The compound wall of a Garody, a centre of faith, located within the plant premises is also being demolished at present, and the company will at its own cost, rebuild the wall, informed Rai.
Kundapur assistant commissioner K N Ramesh, who was present during the operation said that the company has already fixed rented accommodation for the two families affected, and the company will meet their rentals for one year. The company has also decided to pay Rs 10,000 as contingency fund to enable them to shift their belongings, he elaborated. Out of the three families, the house of Deju Shetty did not have any occupants.
Somaiah Moolya and the other family did not agree to go to the houses fixed for them by the company and instead, chose to go to the homes of their relatives. They said they were treated badly, and in the midst of heavy rains, they were driven out of their homes. Diwakar Shetty, son of Deju Shetty said the eviction was conducted in a hurried manner, before the appeal preferred by them came up for hearing before the Supreme Court.