left parties and the Samajwadi Party have threatened to launch an agitation unless the State Government rolls back its decision to allow Posco to use water from Mahanadi and Hansua rivers.
“We will not allow Posco to use water meant to irrigate farmers’ fields and supply drinking water to the people of the undivided Cuttack district under any circumstances,” said a joint statement issued here on Wednesday by four parties, the CPI, the CPI(M), the Forward Bloc and the SP.
The joint statement signed by Janardan Pati (CPIM), Dibakar Nayak (CPI), Purnachandra Padhi (Forward Bloc) and Rabi Behera (SP) said the State Government was compelled to withdraw its decision to allow Posco to draw 125 cusecs of water from Naraj in Mahanadi following public unrest in 2006.
CPI State secretary Nayak said the Government, which in 2006 had asked Posco to look for an alternative source of water for its use in view of the raging public unrest, has suddenly changed tracks, and while the 2014 polls are underway, it has again allowed the South Korean steel company to draw water from the Mahanadi.
Allowing Posco to draw water from the Mahanadi would very seriously affect irrigation in Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapada and Puri districts, said CPI(M) State secretary Janardan Pati.
Pati pointed out that if Posco is allowed to use water from the Hansua, it would affect the farmers in Cuttack Sadar, Biridi, Raghunathpur, Tirtol, Jagtsinghpur, Ersama and Balikuda in a big way.
It may be noted that Secretary of Water Resources Department Suresh Chandra Mohapatra has sent a letter to the Collector of Jagatsinghpur district saying the Government has granted permission to Posco to draw water from the Mahanadi as well as the Hansua for its proposed steel plant project, which has been in limbo for the last nine years.