Revenue officials sit on cases of Pong oustees

Tribune News Service

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, November 16

About 200 cases of transfer of land in the name of Pong Dam oustees have been lying with the Settlement Office in Dharamsala for the past more than one year.

Sources say despite repeated reminders by the DC office, Kangra, officials were not processing the cases.

The district administration had referred these cases to the Settlement Office about a year ago. This had paved the way for transfer of forestland, on which houses of the oustees are located, in their names.

They have been living without any land in their names and are deprived of all facilities, including water and power connections in many cases, due to erroneous entries in the revenue record.

DC Nipun Jindal said 200 cases of oustees had been referred to the Settlement Office. This would make the landless oustees the owners of the land on which their houses were located, he said.

Asked as to why the cases were not being processed, the DC said a reminder would again be sent to the office.

Most oustees were farm labourers, who had settled on the common land of villages along the Pong lake. When the Pong Dam was constructed, their houses were submerged into the lake and they shifted to upper areas and settled on common land. In 1980s, the state government converted all common land into forestlands in revenue record.

Revenue officials converted the common land into forestland in revenue papers. This was done despite the fact that people were settled on these. They became encroachers after that and were deprived of all facilities, including power and water connections.

The district administration initiated the process of correcting the error of transferring houses of the oustees into forestland after the issue was highlighted by The Tribune.

Sources says similar cases had cropped up in other areas of the district. In many villages such as Khaiara near Dharamsala, many SCs were settled on the common land of the village. After it was converted into forestland, they had become encroachers.

How they became encroachers

• Most Pong oustees were farm labourers, who had settled on the common land of villages along the dam lake
• When the Pong Dam was constructed, their houses were submerged in the lake. They shifted to upper areas and settled on village common land
• In 1980s, the government converted all common land into forestland in revenue record and they became encroachers

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