Berhampur: Nearly 26 years ago, the Water Resources department had proposed Pipalapanka reservoir on Rushikulya river in Sorada Assembly constituency in Ganjam district. Meanwhile, the department has conducted a survey and identified land for the project. As per preliminary estimate, Rs 1,000 crore will be spent for the project, said Sorada MLA Purnachandra Swain. He added that after completion of the project, it will provided irrigation of vast areas and drinking water in some rural pockets.
However, environmentalists had opposed it in the initial years and have again opposed it now. It is worth mentioning here that in the late 90s, Tata Group had proposed to set up a port-based mega steel plant at Gopalpur. The then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao had contested Lok Sabha elections on the Congress ticket from Berhampur constituency in 1996. It was said that to ensure his electoral success, he had pressurised the Tata Group to agree for the post-based steel plant.
Ahead of the parliamentary elections, PV Narasimha Rao had laid the foundation stone for the plant in December 1995. Top executives of the Tata Group including Ratan Tata were present on the occasion. Here, a proposal was mooted to build Pipalapanka reservoir on Rushikulya river to supply water to the proposed steel plant. Then, the district administration extended all possible cooperation and drew up a master plan for drawing water from the reservoir. However, some local environmentalists strongly opposed the steel plant as well as the Pipalapanka water reservoir. There were agitations. The agitators said that if the reservoir project is executed, it should be solely used for farming. Hence, the proposed reservoir plunged into controversy.
On 30 March, 1998, former Berhampur MP Jayanti Patnaik had raised the issue of Pipalapanka reservoir project in Lok Sabha. She had then urged the Central government for implementing the Pipalapanka reservoir project on as the execution of this project is very necessary to meet the water needs of the steel plant proposed by Tata Group on the Gopalpur coast. Tata had then acquired hundreds of acres of land for the plant, but due to still opposition from locals, the company had to withdraw itself from the project. The Pipalapanka reservoir project also got stuck.
After 26 years, the issue of building the reservoir was raised again. The ruling party has laid emphasis on execution of the project. Decades ago, freedom fighter and Communist leader Gobinda Pradhan (then Bhanjanagar MLA) had mooted construction of Pipalapanka reservoir on Rushikulya with a vision to use its water only for farming. Environmentalist Prafulla Samantray who had been opposing the reservoir along with others said that no dam should be allowed in any river because the natural flow of river water gets affected. “Dams on rivers only dry up water.
Water crisis crops up. Due to Janibili dam, Rushikulya river goes dry in summer and winter,” he noted. He pointed out that Sorad reservoir built during the British Raj on Jarau and Padma rivers is in dilapidated state, but there has been no step for its restoration. He has opposed both Pipalapanka and Kansarigand reservoirs on Rushikulya river. Senior BJD leader Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik said that the state government has emphasised on dam construction to boost irrigation and ensure drinking water to people. Pipalapanka reservoir is a welcome step, he added.