Nagpur: Khusba in Kuhi Tehsil, where a boat tragedy claims a woman, not the only village close to Gosikhurd backwaters where the locals demand rehabilitation.
There were 41 hamlets like that throughout the Gosikhurd Dam project.
Those who live there want to be shifted because of the same conditions.
Requests have been rejected, said source.
The area is not included in the rehabilitation plan because villages are not under the dam immersion area.
Although water may be close to flooding into a threat also in some places, said the source and adding, the water level of the Gosikhurd dam has been taken to a peak of 245.5 meters which has increased the backwaters level too.
Rehabilitation requests were taken by the government and the meeting held about four months ago, said the source.
After that officials including senior bureaucrats from the relief department and rehabilitation visited several villages.
After inspection, locals are told that their requests cannot be fulfilled.
The reason quoted is that they are not affected by immersion because of the Gosikhurd project, even though the area may be vulnerable to flooding.
There are provisions for voluntary rehabilitation, but if all 41 villages include it will require a major cost.
The cost of acquiring land they can come to more than RS280 Crore.
Adding rehabilitation costs to take estimates to more than RS400 Crore, said source ..
In Khusba, a 35-year-old woman, Gita Nimbarte, was killed on Thursday while she crossed the backwaters on the boat.
Cut from one side, the villagers ride a boat to reach their field on the other side.
The source at Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) said the demand for residents of Khusba Village has been rejected twice.
They have lost cases in court too.
In addition, if the request of one village is fulfilled, other people must be considered too.
Raju Parve, Local Mla visited the place, said that as a direct action he had directed officials to build bridges.
Costs will come to RS9 Crore.
However, given the tragedy he will now emphasize the relocation where the state government must take policy decisions.
VIDC will monitor the situation after increasing the height for three months.
Data will be collected through drone surveys and satellite imagery.
Backwaters Gosi approached more than 40 villages, rehabilitation requests were rejected
