Times of
India: Nagpur: Thursday, October 25, 2018.
Villagers
from Kujaba under Kuhi tehsil in Nagpur district have knocked Nagpur bench of
Bombay High Court’s doors apprehending threats to their lives from rising
waters of Gosikhurd dam. They have attached several photographs of their
marooned homes to highlight the severe damages caused due to the dam water.
A
division bench comprising justices Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Shreeram Modak on
Wednesday issued notices to the Maharashtra government asking to file a reply
by December 2. District collector and executive engineer of Gosikhurd are other
respondents in the case.
Last
month TOI had visited Pimpri-Munje, Sonarwahi and other villages in Kuhi tehsil
which were facing similar problem. A series of reports had highlighted that
these villages had turned inhospitable and its inhabitants were not finding any
alternate sources of income.
TOI
had also visited one of the rehabilitated villages and found that it lacked
even basic facilities like drinking water and roads.
Kujaba
village sarpanch Ishwar Lambat filed a PIL (No 138/2018) on behalf of the
villagers through counsel Prakash Randive praying for rehabilitation of 432
families, comprising over 1,600 persons, under Section 10 of Bombay Project
Affected Persons Rehabilitation Act.
The
village is situated on the banks of Aam river, which connects backwaters of
Gosikhurd dam from eastern and northern side. It had witnessed floods in 2007
and 2013.
Randive
contended that since the dam water is stagnant, it was entering tanks and
contaminating drinking water in the village.
“The
rising dam water has submerged farms, leaving villagers with no other source of
income. They apprehend that the water has reached a danger mark and even slight
rains would submerge their homes. The dam water is just 200 metres from the village
and has made entire village land marshy,” said Randive.
According
to the petitioner, after repeated complaints from the villagers, sub-divisional
officer (SDO) of Umred and Kuhi tehsildar inspected the village on June 2,
2016. Their report concluded that over 90% homes had been affected due to the
dam water and the village has turned into an island.
The
SDO and tehsildar advised villagers to shift immediately before monsoon of
2016-17, as there was a threat of submergence and to their lives as well.
However, the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) officials have
refused to shift the villagers in spite of their repeated requests, the
petition stated.
Subsequently,
the villagers approached court and submitted spot panchnama of flood reports of
2007 and 2013, gathered under the RTI Act.
The
villagers argued that even a slight rain makes their village inhospitable and
damages their homes. They said there is every possibility that all of them
would be drowned in case of heavy downpour.
The
aggrieved villagers prayed for directives to respondents to acquire their
agriculture farms and pay them a reasonable compensation towards loss of their
property.
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