Dam management faces heat for ignoring people’s demands

The Shri Renuka Dam Jan Sangharsh Samiti has accused the Shri Renuka Dam project management of ignoring the ongoing concerns of families displaced by the project. At a meeting held at the Panchayat Bhawan in Dadahu, the committee expressed frustration with the management’s failure to address the issues of displaced families, a problem that has persisted for 17 years.

Committee president Yogendra Kapila, convenor Pratap Singh Tomar, and general secretary Sanjay Chauhan condemned the management’s recent issuance of MPAF (Multipurpose Affidavit Forms) cards as a hollow gesture. Kapila criticised this move as a superficial attempt to win sympathy, with no real solutions for the displaced.

Tomar and Chauhan highlighted that delays in addressing the displaced families’ concerns were previously blamed on the lack of Board of Directors (BOD) meetings. However, despite a recent BOD meeting, the management has still not resolved these issues. The dam management, they claimed, continues to evade questions and stall progress.

Executive engineer Sanjeev Kumar mentioned that a list of 114 homeless families had been submitted to the Deputy Commissioner of Sirmaur, but that the requested data from local tehsils had yet to be provided. He also noted that the Chief Secretary had instructed the management to review the resettlement model used for Gaggal Airport before proceeding further.

The meeting saw participation from key committee members, including Rajkumar Sharma, Harish Chandra Sharma, Amar Chand, and Praveen Kumar, all of whom reiterated the demand for immediate action on behalf of the displaced families. Despite multiple protests, no concrete steps have been taken, fuelling the committee’s ongoing discontent.