Claiming that a conspiracy has been hatched to dry the stretch of the Mahanadi in Odisha, the BJD on Saturday announced to launch protests against Chhattisgarh’s proposed barrage on the upstream of the river in 15 districts situated along the river basin from July 25 till August 11.
The protests would be held in front district Collectorates, said party youth wing president and Minister Sanjay Dasburma at a news conference here.
The demonstrations would be held in the districts of Sambalpur, Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Subarnapur, Boudh, Angul, Nayagarh, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Cuttack, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khordha and Deogarh.
“If the Chhattisgarh Government does not take reconsider its unilateral decisions for construction of barrages on the upper catchment of Mahanadi, we will intensify our protests further, said Dasburma.
Party vice-president and Rajya Sabha member Prasanna Avharya said the Chhattisgarh Government is constructing the barrage in violation of the norms of the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the inter-State agreement signed between the Madhya Pradesh and Odisha Governments in 1983.
Meanwhile, Water Resources Department Engineer-in-Chief Janaki Ballav Mohapatra said two senior engineers of the department would visit Chhattisgarh on July 25 to look into the papers of the plan and construction of the barrage projects.
“The department would take its next course of action after receiving the report of the visiting engineers,” he added.