Kendrapara/ Pattamundai: With the meeting between the district administration and the members of Kharasrota Nadi Banchao Sangram Samiti Friday turning out to be fruitless, the controversy surrounding the mega drinking water project on Kharasrota River gathered momentum in the locality.
Immediately after the meeting, the members of the Samiti, while briefing journalists, said they would intensify their protest in coming days. They said they warned the administrative officials present in the meeting that even if the construction work ends, they would never allow the project to function.
The meeting was held on the premises of Pattamundai block office. From the administration side, district Collector Amrit Ruturaj, SP Madkar Sandeep Sampat and Sub-Collector Niranjan Behera and from the protestors’ side, Sangram Samiti’s president Durjyodhana Mohanty, secretary Bidhan Chandra Das, convenor Debendra Nath Sharma, Dolagovinda Nayak, Sharat Chandra Rout, Kali Prasad Nayak, Sabita Baraj and Ramakanta Rout attended the meeting.
Also read: Impact of fall in fresh water flow: Bhitarkanika bio-diversity waning
The meeting discussed topics such as IIT Hyderabad’s report, the amount of water in Kharasrota River, construction of the barrage, the project’s impact on local areas and Bhitarkanika National Park among others. “The meeting failed as there was disagreement over the ownership of the land on which the project is being constructed,” informed secretary Das.
“The owner of the land is Sheikh Hussain Badshah, son of T Hussain Saheb from Budhwar Peta Kurnool Camp (B) in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. The project is being constructed on the land he purchased in 2019. We are yet to understand why the state government is constructing the project on his land. The project’s construction work was started without any survey regarding the volume of water in the Kharasrota river. While 20 million litres of water is required per day for the beneficiaries, there is a plan to draw 117 million litres per day from the river,” informed Das.
Also Read: Boost to protests against drinking water project
“The owner of the project site is a resident of Andhra Pradesh. And the government is getting the project done employing all possible means. This raises a doubt,” he added.
“The area of the project site measures 70 decimals, spreading over three ‘khatas’. But the district administration has kept around 70 acres of land in its custody, affecting cultivation and cattle grazing. Children’s playground has also shrunk. When we raised these issues in the meeting, the Collector tried to convince us with some irrelevant topics,” he further added.
When contacted, Kendrapara district Collector Amrit Ruturaj said it can’t be said that the meeting turned futile. “The Samiti had placed two demands and the same will be informed to the state government. Meanwhile, the construction work is going on unhampered and will soon end,” he added.
PNN