Ayodhya: Solar power plant displaces electricity-less villagers
Ayodhya: For the residents of Rampur Halwara, fear prevails. As Ayodhya’s “ambitious” solar power plant project reaches their doorstep, the worry of their generations-old homes being razed to the ground is growing. In August last year, Rampur Halwara village in Ayodhya district was declared the site for a 40 MW solar power plant project to meet Ayodhya’s growing power demand. The project, a collaboration between the state government and NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd, is spread across 165 acres, with over a lakh solar panels being installed. Around 30 to 35 families, most of them Dalits, live in the area earmarked for the project. Many of them are now displaced as their homes have been demolished. The last cluster of about a dozen houses remains.
Today, Rampur Halwara village has thousands of solar panels spread across several acres of land, with a select few thatched and concrete houses on the fringes of the expanding solar project. Amid the sand and gravel dunes is a faded yellow board that reads, “40 MW Solar Power Project Ayodhya UP”. According to residents, hundreds of decades-old trees along the road have been felled in the last few months, leaving the area devoid of greenery. When the wind blows, it scatters the loose soil, causing small dust storms. Prakashini Kumari, a resident of Rampur Halwara, says that since the project began about six months ago, she has seen many thatched huts demolished without any notice or compensation. She says the displaced residents have either moved to their relatives’ homes in other villages or are camping in a new place every day, as their appeals not to bulldoze their houses fell on deaf ears. “They had no notice or written order to show to the people whose houses they demolished. The same will happen to us soon,” she says. “We have all the papers of our land, but we don’t know if that will save our house from being bulldozed.” Prakashini’s father-in-law, who was born in Rampur Halwara and had lived here for 85 years, died about a month ago due to the stress of losing his home, which led to a health crisis. “We are always living in fear. We have no money or savings to move. We barely earn Rs 250 a day. With this, how can we buy food, afford our children’s education or other living expenses?” said the mother of three. “When we ask them if we will be given any compensation or allotted another piece of land, they say nothing. We are even ready to build a house in the khaliya (trench), but they do not tell us anything clearly,” she said.
Two houses down, Vinita, a frail-looking woman in her forties, sits on a charpai in front of her concrete house, which she built about six years ago. “I received about Rs 3.5 lakh from the government under the Lohia Awas Yojana six years ago and now they want to snatch it from us?” she asks. “They say we will get some compensation, but those whose houses have been demolished have not received anything, so I will believe when I get it.” Vinita says it took her a lifetime to “fulfil her dream” and build a concrete house with the help of the scheme and it will not be possible for her to do so again if her house is demolished.
Govind Majhi
About two months ago, 18-year-old Govind Majhi’s thatched roof was demolished. He and his family received no notice or prior intimation and were given just a few hours to remove their belongings before their thatched roof was demolished. Govind’s father, Om Prakash Majhi, had been living in the house for more than 35 years but could not produce papers to put his case before the authorities. “Nobody was listening to us because we didn’t have the papers, so we accepted it,” he says. Govind’s agricultural land has also reportedly been taken over by the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) for the project. “We used to get around Rs 30 to 35 thousand annually from wheat cultivation on those lands and Rs 1.5 lakh from sugarcane cultivation, but even now we are cultivating the land. He is gone. Govind’s father died a month ago and he now lives with his relatives in the city. Ram Sabad Majhi, another resident and owner of a few concrete houses in the area, has also lost around 12 bigha (about 8 acres) of agricultural land to the solar power plant project. “We had the property documents but it was still taken away,” says Ram. “They have told us that the land has been declared unsuitable for cultivation as it is submerged.” However, the same “submerged” land is being used to install solar panels. “And we have not even received any compensation for this,” he added. “In 1998, when a road was built cutting through our agricultural land, we were all paid compensation money. Now, when the entire property has been confiscated, why no compensation?” When Majhi heard that his house was in the way of the project and would have to be demolished, he said they were occupying “submerged” land.
