Families displaced by Bisalpur dam awaiting rehabilitation for 25 years

It has been 25 years since the construction of Bisalpur dam in Tonk, but the families displaced by it are still awaiting rehabilitation. As per govt records, 150 families moved out of the dam’s catchment area have not yet found a home.

The foundation stone of the Bisalpur dam was laid in 1986 and its construction was completed in 1999. Water was filled in the dam in 2004 and the supply to Jaipur began in 2009. Since their displacement, these families have been living in temporary accommodations built in two nearby colonies set up for workers involved in the construction of the dam.

According to Tonk collector Saumya Jha, the state govt is exploring 3 to 4 options to rehabilitate these families, working within the legal and administrative framework.

“We used to live in Bisalpur village before our houses were submerged when the dam was filled with water. We have been living in the Workshop Colony for the past 25 years,” said Satya, one of the residents of the colony, which is about a kilometre away from the dam.

These residents received notices from the office of the assistant engineer, Bisalpur project, Deoli, on January 19 to vacate these houses. “I shifted to this colony about 25 years ago. We have been demanding rehabilitation since then. My father was allotted a piece of land elsewhere by the govt but it was already encroached upon by another party. Now, I am fighting a case in the Tonk district court to remove the squatter,” said Om Prakash, one of the residents.

Apart from the displaced families, about 500-600 workers from other states came to work at the dam construction site. About 10 families stayed back and settled here. Padma Bai, a worker from Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur, has lived in the colony for 40 years and works as a daily wage earner along with her family.
“This is a small accommodation. The company brought us here to work at the dam construction site. We did not return to our village and decided to stay back thinking about our children's future. We work as daily wage earners now,” said Bai, who has four sons and a daughter.

Bharatraj of Kisan Mahapanchayat, on the other hand, said around 230 displaced families were living in the Bisalpur area. He said, apart from the Workshop Colony, they live at Manchli Kanta Kachhi Basti and Bichi Plant.

“Some families could not take possession of the allotted land for being a distant area. A few oth ers sold off the allotted land and came here. Based on the availability of their ration cards, these families should be provided permanent accommodation soon,” said Bharatraj.

Collector Saumya Jha said, “All the displaced families have been compensated and allotted residential plots. Many did not take possession of those pieces of land as they wanted to live near Bisalpur village. Now, we are exploring two to three options: First, whether the upper colony could be retained as residential land; second, looking for nearby land where they could be rehabilitated and, third, if they could be accommodated where they are living now. For any of these to be realised, we would require an NOC from the Bisalpur dam.”
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