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245 Bhakra Dam oustees await rehabilitation

All ears: Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur meets a Kisan Sabha delegation at the Assembly building in Dharamsala on Friday. Photo: Kamaljeet

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 13

As many as 245 Bhakra Dam oustees are yet to be rehabilitated by the state government.

The fact came to light in response to a query from Jeet Ram Katwal, BJP MLA from Jhanduta in Bilaspur district, during the question hour today.

Lost Power, Water Supply

The House was told that 127 persons, including 29 Bhakra Dam oustees, were facing eviction from the land they had been residing for decades.
Their water and power connections have been snapped on the High
Court orders.
On this, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said 203 bighas had been identified for the oustees.

The BJP MLA said there were 6,500 Bhakra Dam oustees in his constituency, who were facing problems of rehabilitation. The House was told that 127 persons, including 29 Bhakra Dam oustees, were facing eviction from the land they had been residing for decades. Water and power connections have been snapped following the High Court orders.

Ram Lal Thakur, Congress MLA from Naina Devi, said the people, who were facing eviction from forest land, were settled there as per the orders of the former Revenue Minister Rajan Sushant, who in 1998 had promised to grant them ownership rights.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said 203 bighas had been identified to settle the Bhakra Dam oustees. The case for diversion of the said forest land was going on. The Chief Minister, in response to a query from BJP MLA Ramesh Dhawala, informed the House that the state government would no longer recruit labourers in the Public Works Department (PWD). The reason he gave was high salary component of labourers in the PWD.

Rs 5.17 Crore Spent on Rally

An amount of Rs 5,17,62,358 was spent by the state government on the Jan Abhar Rally, organised to mark the completion of one year of the BJP government’s rule, in Dharamsala last year, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur replied to a query put forth by CPM legislator Rakesh Singha.
Thakur said the General Administration Department had made payments to operators of the buses used to transport the people attending the public meeting.
Out of the total amount, Rs 2,52,77,547 was incurred on transportation, payment of Rs 2.40 crore was made to the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) and a sum of Rs 12,77,547 was yet to be paid.

There were a total of 23,539 sanctioned posts of labourer in the PWD, of which 5,212 were lying vacant. He said the state did not need to follow norms fixed by the Union government to fill these posts because according to the new guidelines, the maintenance of roads was done on a contractual basis. "The maintenance is done by the contractor as per the terms and conditions of the contract," the Chief Minister said.

To a query from BJP MLA Jia Lal and Congress MLA Ashish Butail, the Minister for Rural Development informed the House that the government had no intention to regularise the services of sheep shearers, who had been working on a commission basis in the Wool Federation of Himachal for the past 10 to 15 years.

In response to a query from Ram Lal Thakur and Jeet Ram Katwal, the government said the contractor executing the Kiratpur-Nerchowk fourlaning had abandoned the work in June 2018. The government also said complaints of petty contractors regarding the non-payment of dues by the contractor had been forwarded to the NHAI.

Replying to a query from Pawan Kajal, Congress MLA from Kangra, the government said land acquisition for the Pathankot-Mandi fourlaning was going on.

Box

Rs 5.17 crore spent on rally

An amount of Rs 5,17,62,358 was spent by the state government on the Jan Abhar Rally, organised to mark the completion of one year of the BJP government's rule, in Dharamsala last year, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur replied to a query put forth by CPM legislator Rakesh Singha.

Thakur said the General Administration Department had made payments to operators of the buses used to transport the people attending the public meeting.

Out of the total amount, Rs 2,52,77,547 was incurred on transportation, payment of Rs 2.40 crore was made to the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) and a sum of Rs 12,77,547 was yet to be paid.