Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Thursday launched a special Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) package worth more than Rs 75.60 crore for 1,371 Nolia families displaced from Golabandha in Ganjam district. The families were displaced in 1984 for the construction of the Army Air Defence College and had been awaiting a resolution to their rehabilitation demands for decades. The package includes financial assistance, housing support and infrastructure development for the affected families.

Launching the package at a special programme in Golabandha, Majhi also criticised the Opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD), alleging that the party had neglected the concerns of displaced residents despite governing Odisha for 24 years. He accused successive leadership representing Ganjam of prioritising political interests while failing to address the long-standing rehabilitation issues of the Nolia families. Majhi said his government had given priority to resolving the matter.

Under the package, each of the 1,371 eligible families will receive one-time compensation of Rs 5 lakh through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). The compensation amounts to Rs 68.55 crore and is intended to help the displaced families achieve greater financial stability. The government has also allocated Rs 4.25 crore for housing assistance, which will be used to complete 998 incomplete houses and construct 10 new houses.

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More than Rs 2.80 crore has additionally been sanctioned for infrastructure development in the new Kirtipur Colony. During the programme, Majhi personally handed over land records, or pattas, to beneficiaries. In the first phase, land records for homestead and agricultural land were distributed to 96 of the 112 families displaced by the Chheligada Medium Irrigation Project, providing another major rehabilitation measure in the district.

Majhi also highlighted the expected benefits of the Chheligada Medium Irrigation Project for the region. Once the project is completed by the end of next year, more than 6,000 hectares of land across Ganjam and Gajapati districts are expected to receive irrigation facilities. The Chief Minister said the government was taking steps to address the concerns of displaced communities while simultaneously advancing development and irrigation projects in southern Odisha.

The Chief Minister also referred to the decades-long wait faced by the Golabandha families and described their displacement and subsequent struggle as significant. He maintained that the rehabilitation package would provide a long-term resolution to the issue that began with the transfer of land for the Army Air Defence College in 1984. The government has positioned the package as part of its broader efforts to address pending rehabilitation concerns and strengthen development initiatives in Ganjam district.

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