Tribal residents of a border village in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Tuesday threatened to launch an agitation if they are not paid compensation for the 150 acres of their land they gave to the Indian Army during the 1962 India-China war.
Angry residents of Malari village, which is part of the Centre's Vibrant Villages Programme, will stop the construction work done by the Indian Army if they are not compensated, former block development committee member Supiya Singh Rana told reporters in Gopeshwar.
"Six decades have passed since they offered their land unconditionally to the Army in national interest but they have not got compensation for it either from the government or the Indian army," Rana said. They depended on the land for their livelihood, he added.
"We villagers are not against the Army or the government. But getting a compensation for their land is the right of the villagers," Rana said.
Army settlements are present in Malari that comes under Joshimath tehsil which has been in the news for its land subsidence crisis.
"Several letters have been written from time to time to the Indian Army, the Centre and the state government for payment of compensation to the villagers but all they have got is assurances," said Pushkar Singh Rana, village chief of Kaga Garpak in Niti valley.
"At the time of the 1962 India-China War, villagers of Malari had given 150 acres of their land to the Army unconditionally without anything in black and white as national interest is paramount but despite the passage of six decades they have got nothing in compensation," Rana said.
"Vibrant Village is a good idea so far as planned development of border villages is concerned. Stopping migration from such villages by giving villagers employment at home, providing them uninterrupted supply of power and water and creating health facilities for them [is good] but what is happening in Malari is just the opposite of all this," Rana said.
"Army is expanding its establishment by erecting concrete structures on the land given to it by the villagers without paying them any compensation," Rana said.
