Bolangir: The fate of the Lower Suktel mega irrigation project has been pushed into uncertainty as the government is yet to start the project work even as the year is coming to an end.
Reports said the project is dead for two and half years. The original plan outlay was Rs 217.13 crore which was later revised to Rs 2,448.09 crore in 2015. As five years have passed since then, the outlay must have crossed Rs 3,000 crore, observers said.
The state government is blaming it on the opposition from the oustees for the delay. The government has failed to rehabilitate the oustees with compensation. 70 per cent of the spillway works and 40 per cent of the soil embankment works of the project have been completed.
The state government had announced to start works from November but the work is yet to start. Meanwhile, a high-level team visited Bolangir twice and reviewed the project. They promised people to start the dam works from November with simultaneous distribution of compensation to the oustees as well as also to start the rehabilitation work.
The team members were greeted with ‘go back’ slogans by the oustees as they arrived at the project site. The project oustees demanded to resolve their problems first and then start the dam work.
The team comprising chief engineer of water resources department, director, rehabilitation and resettlement, officers of Odisha Construction Corporation (OCC), the implementing agency visited the dam site, talked to representatives of various outfits and the project oustees while reviewing the project.
The members of the Bolangir Action Committee, citizens’ committee, district bar association also met the high-powered team and discussed about the early completion of the project.
The team members said that a senior officer will be deputed for the project to oversee and resolve the problems. However, November has passed but work is yet to start.
The issue came up in the State Assembly when Bolangir MLA Narasingh Mishra and Loisingha MLA Mukesh Mahaling questioned the stand of the state government on the project. Even Bolangir Lok Sabha MP Sangeeta Kumari Singhdeo demanded early completion of the project. Former Bolangir MP Kalikesh Narayan Singhdeo had also demanded early completion of the project.
Observers claimed that the project has become a knotty affair in last 20 years. People who are earlier supporting the project are now opposing it after no efforts were made to resolve their demands.
They alleged that the state government had no clear cut policy for the project. The project got caught in a legal tangle after the start of land acquisition in 2013.
Now the state government is trying to implement two rules. The oustees who had earlier received partial compensation will not be given compensation for rehabilitation on the basis of 2013-Land Acquisition Act. They will only be given compensation with matching ex-gratia.
It was alleged that the state government is not coming clear on the matching ex-gratia to be disbursed. Efforts to contact project chief engineer Bibhuti Bhusan Mishra failed as he did not pick up the phone.
PNN