Relief to Bhatsa Dam PAPs refused

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has refused to grant relief to project-affected perso-ns (PAP) of Bhatsa Dam work because they have been affected by the project prior to 1976 and are not covered under the Re-settlement Act 1976. The petitioners were seeking alternate land and emplo-yment with the Brihan-mumbai Municipal Corp-oration (BMC) as project-affected persons as per the GR issued in 2012.

However, the BMC said that it was between the petitioners and state government and the BMC would rehabilitate persons affected by BMC projects. The Chief Justice of the high court then disposed of the petition without granting any relief and said that it is for the petitioners to approach the state government to claim benefits under GR issued in 2012.

The division bench of Chief Justice Naresh H. Patil and Justice M.S. Ka-rnik passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Bhatsa Prakalp Visthapit Punarvasan Sa-miti. The petitioners claimed that they are entitled to alternate land and employment.

The petition was filed as Maharashtra built the Bh-atsa Dam in 1974 and, for the construction of this dam, land was acquired and eighteen villages were affected due to this project.

Though the PAP had accepted money instead of alternate land from the government, they claimed that it is the responsibility of the state government to rehabilitate them. They demanded jobs either in state bodies or the BMC.