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

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Himachal Pradesh
government have not been sought. 13 It is
clear that the State government had made
no arrangement for the displaced persons.
On 28 January 2004, the Supreme
Court reportedly ordered the transfer of the
Pong Dam oustees’ case to the Himachal
Pradesh High Court for mitigating the
rehabilitation problems of 16,352 families
who were uprooted over three decades
ago. The order for the transfer of the case
to High Court was made given the fact that
a majority of the affected families were
staying back in the state instead of moving
to the Indira Gandhi Canal area in
84
Rajasthan, where they were to be
rehabilitated. Two oustees’ organisations -
the Pradesh Pong Bandh Visthapit Samiti
and the Himachal Pong Dam Oustees
Welfare Committee - in a joint petition
before the Supreme Court alleged that out
of the 16,352 eligible families, land had
been allotted to only 2,538 families in the
Indira Gandhi canal area of Rajasthan
while allotments of 6,658 other families
had been cancelled. Many of the families
had not even been issued relief eligibility
certificates by the Himachal Pradesh
Government. 14
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