Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday set up a committee to oversee the rehabilitation of people displaced by the Narmada dam.
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Speaking to journalists accompanying the Prime Minister from Hanover to the capital Berlin, Dr Singh's media adviser Sanjay Baru said the Prime Minister had approved the setting up of the Sardar Sarovar Project relief and rehabilitation oversight group.
Narmada: The Valley of Dams
The three-member panel comprises former Comptroller and Auditor General V K Shunglu, non-governmental organization Loksatta convenor Dr Jay Prakash Narayan, and former Jawaharlal Nehru University vice-chancellor G K Chaddha.
The committee has been asked to examine the status of rehabilitation and to gather facts on the total number of families affected by submergence, and the total number of families who have not received a relief and rehabilitation package as per norms.
The committee will also ascertain whether alternative land was offered to the oustees and verify whether those who did not take land voluntarily refused to do so.
The committee will recommend a system to ensure that all families will be affected by the submergence when the dam height is 121.92 metres and that they all receive relief within three months as per the norms laid down by the Narmada award, the Supreme Court, and the Grievances Redressal Authority of Madhya Pradesh, he said.
The panel has been given a three-month term, and subsequently, the raising of the dam's height is likely to get approved.
The Supreme Court, in its observation last week, had threatened to stop work on raising the height of the dam if there was no effective rehabilitation.
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