INDIA
Ousted again
| Image: D Bhowmik |
A decades-old injustice was reopened recently when hundreds of people in Tripura began returning to their former lands, which had been flooded during the 1970s by a hydroelectric project. The 10-megawatt Gumti project was originally commissioned in 1974, over the fierce protest of the 40,000 local residents whose lands were to be flooded by the dam's reservoir. Human-rights workers say that less than 20 percent of those affected were ultimately compensated by the government, due to the fact that the displaced families, mostly Reangs, held no official lease on their traditional lands.