Fair deal for displaced families?

The government will set a humane precedence with the Punatsangchhu hydroproject displaced

10 June, 2009 - The 89 families that will have to make way for the 1200 MW Punatsangchhu dam, the largest number of people ever displaced in such circumstances in Bhutan, may just get the compensation they desire.  The minister of economic affairs, Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk, said...

In April this year, the government informed the families they would have to relocate. As compensation, the government offered either land or monetary compensation. The families chose the land option with the encouragement of the government.

But then they were told they would have to find the new land themselves. Although some families have found land, most have not. One obstacle may be because the families are expected to find land within their own gewog. These families told Kuensel there was no suitable land left for them. As subsistence farming families, finding land with access to water is vital for them, along with soil conducive for agriculture.

The families approached Wangdi dzongkhag with alternative compensation packages that, they believed, would ensure their financial security. They requested they be given small plots of land in or around Wangdi town, or above the dam site, where they would build houses and become shopkeepers. The rest of their land, they said, they would exchange for shares in the project.

None of these proposals were accepted by Wangdi dzongkhag. The dzongkhag informed them no land was available either in Wangdi town or near the dam site. One farmer complained that land near the dam site had instead been given by the dzongkhag to persons from other gewogs, just before being informed to relocate. Receiving shares, they were told, was not a feasible idea with the current global recession, and returns were not guaranteed.

“The people are willing to be relocated, but they have serious concerns,” said Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk, “and, from the government’s side, we’d like to say that we share the concerns of the people, we have a moral as well as sacred responsibility to provide good substitute land.”

The minister said instructions would be given to the dzongkhag administration and land commission to work on finding suitable land for the families “at the earliest possible time.” Asked how much time that meant, the minister said, “in the next few months.”

As for shares in the project, the minister told Kuensel that the government would “look into” the possibility. The minister believed it would be a meaningful gesture, allowing the families to have a regular income and equivalent to giving them land.

The managing director of PHPA, R N Khazanchi, said that PHPA was open to the possibility of giving the families shares in the project if the government instructed them to do so. “This is a decision that has to be made at the highest levels of government,” he said.

He, along with Lyonpo Khandu, pointed out that additional assistance would involve providing employment for the families during the construction phase, and eventually even electricity, water, roads and other infrastructure. “If they want,” said Lyonpo Khandu.

On the concerns of some families that they were not being kept informed, Lyonpo Khandu said, “The people have a right to information, and so we’ve instructed PHPA to work closely with the people from now on.” Lyonpo also said that PHPA had been instructed to speed up finalising the acquisition and compensating phase.

The Punatsangchhu dam will be completed in 2015. Several more dams will be constructed in an economic development plan to harness at least 10,000 MW of a 30,000 MW potential by 2020. Lyonpo Khandu said the compensation package for the Punatsangchhu would be a precedent for future families displaced by dams.

By Gyalsten K Dorji

 Thanks goes to:  Google news and Kuensel Online Newspaper