The Odisha Chashi Suraksha Abhiyan, Ganjam district branch has threatened to take to the street if the proposed Ghatakeshwar multipurpose irrigation project is not constructed soon.
“Chief Minister Naveen Patanik had laid foundation stone for the Ghatakeshwar multipurpose irrigation project in 2016. The project, when completed, will irrigate 500 hectares of land and supply drinking water to 75,000 people in the Adibasi-dominated Kukudakhandi block. But the Odisha Construction Corporation has not begun its construction work yet,” lamented Abhiyan leaders at a meeting held here on Tuesday.
Abhiyan convenor Rabi Rath presided over the meeting. Among others, Rushikulya Rayat Mahashabha president Trinath Bishwal and secretary Seemanchal Nahak, Langaleswar Krushak Sabha president Brundaban Behera, Kailash Chandra Singh, block convenor Sharat Chandra Dash, Manash Ranjan Tripathy and Basant Kumar Adhikari were present.
They informed that the tender for the project was called for Rs 111.28 lakh on September 6, 2017, but the tender process has not been completed yet. Though it is learnt that the OCC was given Rs 43 crore for taking up rehabilitation and resettlement works, no such work has been done, they lamented.
If the State Government doesn’t expedite the process for construction of the project, thousands of famers would stage an agitation at the Chief Engineers’ office here, Rath said.