The senior officials of the district administration led by ADM Basant Kumar Rout and police on Wednesday faced protests from the locals under the banner of the Kharasrota Banchao Sangrama Samiti (KBSS) at Rajkanika while they had gone with machineries to start a Rs 892 crore proposed mega drinking water project on river Kharashrota near Barunadiha village. The agitators restricted the officials and the company staff on way to the project spot.The drinking water project would supply water to 526 villages of 91 panchayats of Chandabali, Tihidi, Dhamanagar and Basudevpur blocks of Bhadrak district by extracting water from river Kharasrota that flows between Aul and Rajkanika blocks near Barunadiha. As Kharasrota river is the lifeline of the duo blocks, so the locals alleged that if water would be extracted for the mega pipe water project then the water flow would decrease and the salinity of the water will increase. It would also lead to acute water scarcity in the two blocks, besides affecting irrigation, they alleged. “We suspect that the proposed project will supply water to the multi-national companies in Baleswar and Bhadrak districts to run their plants and industries," alleged the agitators.
Notably, a case has been filed at the National Green Tribunal (NGT) over the proposed mega water project in February as social activists apprehend the project would be a threat to bio-diversity of Bhitarkanika National Park.