NHRC Issues Notice to Odisha, Andhra Over Machkund Project
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the governments of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh regarding the unresolved rehabilitation of families displaced by the Machkund Hydro Power Project.
The Commission directed the Chief Secretaries of both states, the Koraput District Collector, and the authorities of OHPC and APGENCO to respond. The case reached NHRC after social worker and lawyer Anup Kumar Patra filed a petition highlighting the plight of displaced residents.
According to records, villagers from 14 panchayats in Nandapur and Lamptaput blocks surrendered nearly 18,200 hectares of land for the Jolaput reservoir and the Machkund project site. As a result, 156 villages were displaced. Although the project has generated electricity for more than 70 years, families continue to struggle without rehabilitation, employment, or access to power.
NHRC registered the case under diary number 3104/IN/2026 on 10 February 2026. Furthermore, the Commission instructed the formation of an independent committee to arrange proper rehabilitation for affected families.
Local organisations, including the Nandapur Budi Area Development Council, welcomed NHRC’s intervention. Council leaders Akash Khil, Hari Hantal, Jayaram Paria, and Nanda Pujari praised the Commission’s step, noting that no meaningful development work or investment had been carried out in the project’s surrounding areas.
Residents allege that promises of peripheral development and employment opportunities remain unfulfilled. Consequently, they demand immediate government action to resolve grievances that have persisted for decades.
