annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Uttaranchal
joint project, in Pithoragarh district near
the Indo-Nepal border will reportedly
cause displacement of 80,000 people in
India and 20,000 in Nepal. The
groundwork has already begun for the
315-metre-tall dam, which will be higher
than the Tehri dam. The reservoir of the
dam would span 120 square kilometers
and submerge about 146 villages in India
and 50 villages in Nepal respectively. 6
Rehabilitation of the persons
displaced due to Tehri hydel project has
not been completed so far. Although the
state government claimed that it had
completed the rehabilitation till 760
meters level, some displaced villagers are
still waging their last battle in Old Tehri
town itself. 7 The Tehri Dam authorities
have already spent Rs.1,000 crores on the
rehabilitation process but the money did
not allegedly reach the affected people in
rural areas. 8
IV. The Maoists
The activities of the Maoists from
Nepal have reportedly increased in
Uttaranchal.
On 28 August 2004, a two-year-old
girl identified as Gudia daughter of Laxmi
Dutt Gadkoti, former president of the
Jhulaghat Vyapar Sangh, was seriously
injured when Maoists opened fire on
Indian side from across the Indo-Nepal
border at Jhulaghat in Pitthoragarh
district. 9 On 24 September 2004, the
Maoists burnt a wooden bridge connecting
India and Nepal in the district. 10
The Uttaranchal police arrested five
suspected Maoist sympathisers in the
forests of Udham Singh Nagar adjoining
Nepal on 30 August 2004. Those arrested
persons were reportedly locals acting as
carriers of food and other essential items to
some activists of the Maoist Communist
Centre of India. 11
In October 2004, 18-year-old Khemraj
Bhatt, an alleged Maoist area commander
from Nepal was arrested while trying to reenter
Nepal from Lohaghat area of
Champawat district. On 19 December
2004, Uttaranchal police stated that Bhatt
would be handed over to the Royal
Nepalese Army after consultations with
the Ministry of External Affairs. 12
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