Ravindranath Shanbhag, president of Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF), on Wednesday said that neither the Dakshina Kannada district administration nor the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) had rehabilitated eight families from Kutteturu village near Mangaluru, whose land were acquired for MRPL 23 years ago.
Addressing presspersons here, Dr. Shanbhag said that since all these 11 families were landless labourers, they were given land by the government in 1972 and they had availed loans from the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) to construct their houses in Kutteturu village in Bala Gram Panchayat. They lived there for two decades.
In 1989, the government decided to acquire about 800 acres of land to establish MRPL. The residents of the colony were forcefully evicted from their homes without following due process of law in 1992. Their houses were demolished in their absence.
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As per the scheme, a displaced person was assured Rs. 20,000 for relocation to alternate site in a colony in Chelyaru Village, and monetary compensation and employment for one person in MRPL project.
He alleged that MRPL and government authorities had refused to provide any rehabilitation unless the residents furnished title deeds. But these were buried in the debris following the demolition of houses.
He said that of the 11 families, only two had been rehabilitated, while one family was only given a site but not compensation. Of the 11 displaced families, members of five families had died. Various forums had been pursuing rehabilitation for the displaced residents for the last 13 years, but without any success, he said.
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The district administration and MRPL should release the rehabilitation package with interest to the remaining displaced families immediately, Dr. Shanbhag added.
MRPL’s reaction
An official spokesperson of the company said that the MRPL was keen to compensate the eight displaced families if the Karnataka Industrial Development Board (KIADB) follows the proper procedure and gives a proper list of displaced persons to it.
Sadashiva Prabhu, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannanda said, “We will ask for a report from the KIADB. We will call a meeting of officials of MRPL, KHB, Assistant Commissioner and Tahsildar shortly to discuss the issue and try to solve the problem.”
We are keen to compensate the families: MRPL