Shunglu panel holds inconclusive meeting on Narmada

New Delhi, May 9 (UNI) The oversight panel headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General V K Shunglu today held another round of inconclusive discussions on the ways to deploy the team of The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) of the Programme Implementation Ministry to undertake the survey of the rehabilitation and resettlement of the people affected by Sardar Sarovar project.

Following the orders of the Supreme Court declining to entertain the objections of Narmada Bachao Andolan, the panel discussed the ways of holding field surveys of the affected people, land, houses and villages within a limited period.

The NSSO has been entrusted to verify the claims made by rehabilitation and resettlement of oustees of Sardar Sarovar project after the decision to raise the dam height.

The group is meeting again tomorrow on the issue and the group has been asked to gather information on the total number of families affected by submergence and the families which were yet to receive relief and rehabilitation package as per norms.

The Committee has been asked to recommend a system to ensure that all families who would be affected by submergence with the increase in the height of the dam to 121.92 metres receive relief within three months and also see if there were instances of voluntary refusal to accept relief and rehabilitation offered.

After the meeting, very little information was coming forward with the experts and members maintaining a tight lipped policy.

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