Bhubaneswar 
‘Only locals to use Suktel
project water’
‘Only locals to use Suktel
project water’
THURSDAY,
07 JUNE 2012 22:32
PNS
| BALANGIR
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Let
the people of the area have free access to the water resources. If the
Government wants to execute the Lower Suktel Project, then it should sign an
agreement with people of the locality stating it clear that water would be only
meant for the people and not for any industry, opined noted environmental
activist Prafulla Samantara.
He was addressing hundreds of villagers of the submerged areas
in the Lower Suktel Irrigation Project at Gadshakar Dungripali, 40 km from here
at a meeting organised by Lower Suktel Budi Anchal Sangram Parishad on Tuesday
morning.
Small barrages should be constructed which would use the water
resources properly besides meeting the drinking water need of Balangir town
people. If the Government wants to implement the Lower Suktel project, then the
displaced people must get proper rehabilitation and compensation package first,
Samantara opined.
He said a report of UNDP has described the Suktel Irrigation
Project as economically unviable. Expressing anguish over the corruption in the
project, Samantara demanded that money should be recovered from the corrupt officials
found guilty and exemplary punishment be given to them.
When people in urban areas are not ready to vacate their
encroached land, why people of the area would quit their settlements for the
benefit of the urban people? asked Kosal Kranti Dal president Pramod Mishra.
People of the area should put forth their concerns before the
intellectuals and different organisations of Balangir town so that they could
also help to find a solution to the issue, Mishra suggested.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had assured us to send a team here
to discuss our problem in 2007 but so far none has come to listen to us, rued
Uday Singh Thakur, a local. Before leaving the place we should think twice as
once we leave the land given to us by our forefathers, there would be no
place to stay for us. We must fight for our area. Among others Lower Suktel
Budi Anchal sangram Parishad president Ghunu Sahu, secretary Satya Banchhor and
VP Pareshwar Rajput spoke.
However, in a related development on Tuesday morning in
Balangir, members of lower Suktel Action Committee led by Arun Mishra and
Gopalji Panigrahi staged a demonstration before the DRDA office and urged the
newly elected Zilla Parishad member to pass a resolution to expedite the
implementation of the project.
“We demand speedy implementation of the Lower Suktel irrigation
project. However, let the displaced people be given adequate compensation and
proper rehabilitation first,” said Arun Mishra of Samajwadi Party, adding that
they are going to paralyze the District Collector’s office from June 11.
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