New Delhi, May 26: Four years after it was approved and efforts were made to kickstart the scheme, the Pagladiya dam project has been identified as one of the “three problem areas” faced by the Union ministry of water resources. Newly-appointed minister of water resources Priya Ranjan Das Munshi said, “The Pagladiya project has been earmarked as one of the three projects that are problematic which would require careful handling by the ministry. The other two are Narmada and Cauvery.”
First proposed in the sixties, the project was cleared in 2000 with the objective of protecting 40,000 hectares of land from flood and erosion (190 villages) in Nalbari district, irrigating 54,160 hectares of land and generating 3 MW of electricity. It will be executed by the Brahmaputra Board, which is under the water resources ministry.
But problems arose on the mode of rehabilitation that would be offered to the evicted residents. During the rule of the NDA government, the ministry had claimed that the Assam government was not able to allot land for the resettlement of the evicted families.
The project was proposed to be constructed near Thalkuchi village, 26 km north of Nalbari town near the Indo-Bhutan border. With the creation of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), some villages were to be shifted. These now fall within the council’s jurisdiction.
Das Munshi said the council must be taken into confidence if the issue was to be settled.
It is likely that the estimates of resettlement and rehabilitation might have to be revised even if a political settlement is arrived at. Besides, the appraisal by the Brahmaputra Board does not match with those of some local organisations like the Pagladiya Bandh Prakalpar Kshatigrasta Alekar Sangram Samittee (Resistance Committee of the Affected Areas of the Pagladiya Dam Project).