Supreme Court orders Rs 60 lakh compensation for MP's Sardar Sarovar Project-affected families

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday awarded compensation of Rs 60 lakh each to the families affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project in Madhya Pradesh, who are yet to be given land in lieu of land they would lose to the inter-state project.

Awarding Rs 60 compensation to the project-affected families (PAF), the bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice N.V. Ramana and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said that those who had opted for the Special Rehabilitation Package but did not fully get its benefits would be given Rs 15 lakh compensation.

However, this Rs 15 lakh compensation would be minus what has already been paid to them.

The number of families who would get Rs 60 lakh compensation is 681 and that of those getting Rs 15 lakh compensation is 1,358. However, these figures are tentative, senior lawyer Sanjay Parekh, who had appeared for petitioner Narmada Bachao Andolan, said. 

While granting the compensation, the bench said that same would be paid in two months' time.

However, the court said that the Sardar Sarovar Project-affected people will vacate their places by July 31, failing which they would be evicted by police.

Welcoming the top court's decisions to give Rs 60 lakh to each of the PAF, who did not get land for land, as "very good", Parekh expressed reservations on the part of the order that directed forcible eviction of the families after July 31. 

Rehabilitation is a wider aspect which involves that before people move out to new areas, there should be infrastructural facilities, including market, primary school, medical facilities and other things that are provided even under the award.