Lagatar24 Network
Dumka, Dec 18: The state government is preparing the draft provisions for the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to be jointly signed between the Jharkhand and Bengal governments for joint control of the administrative affairs of the Massanjore Dam situated in Dumka.
The state government informed the Jharkhand High Court on Friday during the hearing of a PIL filed by the Godda BJP MP Nishikant Dubey challenging the unilateral custody of the Bengal government over the administration of the Massanjore Dam for over the last several decades since it was constructed over Mayurakshi river which otherwise entirely situates in Dumka district of Jharkhand.
It was only after the aforesaid PIL filed by Dubey followed by the court’s subsequent directions that the Jharkhand government swung into action to claim for the joint custody of the Massanjore Dam management and reported about it’s initiative for the very purpose to it.
“The High Court has fixed the deadline of March 25 for submission of the report about the initiatives taken by the Bengal government pertaining to the claim for the joint control of the Massanjore Dam,” the Executive Engineer of the Irrigation Department of Dumka division Ashok Kumar said.
He further said that the court would direct regarding the next course of action to be taken by the Jharkhand government after having been apprised with the response of its Bengal counterpart on the former’s claim for the joint control and signing of such an MOU.
Hundreds of thousands of acres of land of Dumka district have been submerged in the Massanjore Dam which was built in 1955 with the assistance of the Canada government and large number of the local residents had been displaced and deprived of suitable compensations as agreed to in a tripartite agreement signed among the Central government and the then Bihar and Bengal governments.
