Turamdeeh The 295 families that were displaced from the villages of Laandup, Turaamdeeh, Banduhuraang and Taalsa in 1982 by UCIL (Uranium Corporation of India (Limited)) to establish the Turaamdeeh mines are still homeless. Under its policy of resettlement of these displaced families, UCIL constructed 295 one-room houses in the Laandup Resettlement Colony. Each such house constructed for resettlement has one room of 6 feet by 8 feet and a small verandah. The full translation can also be found here.

Turamdeeh

(Translation of essay by Dayamani Barla)

The 295 families that were displaced from the villages of Laandup, Turaamdeeh, Banduhuraang and Taalsa in 1982 by UCIL (Uranium Corporation of India (Limited)) to establish the Turaamdeeh mines are still homeless. Under its policy of resettlement of these displaced families, UCIL constructed 295 one-room houses in the Laandup Resettlement Colony. Each such house constructed for resettlement has one room of 6 feet by 8 feet and a small verandah. It is impossible for the agrarian Ho-Santhal
aadivaasi families to live in such small rooms. Due to this reason, the displaced families simply did not move to the Resettlement Colony. Today, only one displaced family – Vinod Sinkoo, his wife, and three children – lives in this Colony. The displaced people say that they (traditionally) live alongside their cows, bulls, goats, hens and chickens. The displaced people ask "Who will live in the one-room house constructed by the UCIL – the mother and father, or the son and daughter-in-law, or the brothers and nephews, or the father-in-law and mother-in-law, or should we house the cows, bulls, goats, hens and pigs there?"

It was difficult for these displaced aadivaasi families “ who traditionally live a nature-based lifestyle “ to live in the houses made by the UCIL, so they now live in houses they have themselves built alongside the railway line in the Laandup area from Neeldungari to Laandup-Kudaada Mond. The people say that after being displaced, they have toiled and worked to construct livable mud houses and say "look, here we have housed our cattle wealth as well". These families are constantly afraid and say "we don't know when the Government will evict us from this place as well". They told us that they have been asking the
administration to allocate to them the land on which they have made their houses and are living presently, but the officials have not taken any heed of this demand despite deposition of money by the displaced families. The displaced people say "UCIL paid such low prices for the land that they appropriated that the money was not sufficient for us to buy any land at all for ourselves".

Demeka Soy, a member of the Turaadeeh Displaced People Committee says "UCIL had given a 'Displaced Person Certificate' to all the displaced people; many have lost it by now, but even so, most of the people have not found any job to date. To eke out a living that can bring two meals a day, the men-folk work in Tata Nagar as casual laborers or recycle-center workers (kabadivala), while some operate rikshaws. Those young women and ladies, who at one time were owners of the forest and used to feed the city dwellers with the grain grown in their fields, are today forced to work as laborers in the city". Sumee Deegee, the President of the Displaced Women's Committee says "After a long battle, the company has given laborers' jobs to 150 people. Today, more than 200 unemployed displaced young men and women are running around searching for jobs."

The members of the Displaced Peoples Committee say, "There is neither a school nor a hospital for the displaced people; no arrangement for either water or electricity. Wherever the displaced people are living, they have themselves asked for donations and raised money to get electricity". At around eight o'clock at night, many displaced people had assembled at Sumee Deegee's house to discuss the state of the displaced families by the light of a kerosene lamp, unable even to see each other's faces clearly. When leaving the house, the people pointed towards the Turamdeeh Mines and said "See, the lights are shining throughout the day and night on the site of the Mines while the settlement of the displaced people is drowned in darkness". The displaced folk may dig their own wells, but they dry up due to the
Mines. The UCIL had dug two ponds: both now lie dry. At the present, there is just one working handpump. There is a small stream on the other side of the railway lines: it is the source of drinking water for the displaced people.

The displaced people told us that medical treatment for the employees of the mines is given at the hospitals in Jadugoda and Narva, but the UCIL does not offer any treatment for the people displaced by them. Similarly, children of the employees can study in the Central School at Narva, but the children of the displaced people not hired by the UCIL cannot study at that school. The displaced people bemoan the loss of  their lands and forests, their homes and settlements, as they have now lost all the amenities of life. The UCIL does not allow them to hold Jaher Sarna (religious rites). To keep alive their traditions and customs, and their culture, the displaced folk hold these community worship-chanting functions. Even today they speak in their own language. They have lost their fields and gardens, their jungle and hills, but they still observe the festivals and fairs associated with these “ Maage parab, Baaha parab and HÄ•ro-o parab. One of the standards of 'development' policy recognized by the Government is the establishment of an Aanganwadi (child care) center, under the auspices of which the Government claims to implement programs for education and health of the  rural children, as well as health-related services for women. However, not a single Aanganwadi center has been allocated for these displaced
people.

The UCIL does have a resettlement policy, but it has not been able to  completely resettle the displaced people. The UCIL allotted just between 0.5-0.6 acres of land (which includes one built-up room) for each displaced family at the Laandup Resettlement area. Only one displaced family lives there. After being displaced, Somaay Deegee and Uday Deegee have constructed houses on some forest land next to the Resettlement area. Chandan of Potaka, Sona Raam Haansda of Kanta Dulki, Chunu Guya-a of Mamuhaatu and Harishchandra Patro work as casual laborers in the Resettlement Colony. They told us that the rooms were constructed for the oustees from Turaamdeeh, but they don't live here now. The people told us that a school was constructed for the displaced, but not one brick of it remains there today.

(To be continued).