The Samal Barrage-affected people of the Pallalahara and Talcher Assembly constituencies, who have been sitting on a ‘dharna’ for last 38 days, on Saturday decided to boycott the coming general elections if their demands are not fulfilled.
The leaders of the ‘Fully Displaced Youth Union, Samal’, including its advisor Manas Ranjan Mishra, president Birendra Samal, secretary Santosh Pattnaik, Pupuli Dash and Julu Mishra, informed the District Collector about the decision through a memorandum.
The affected people of Sagadipal, languabeda, Balangi, Bijigola Patana and Ekagharia are sitting on the dharana in front of the Chief Engineer, Samal office demanding employment and adequate compensation as per Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy.
“The purpose of the construction of the Samal Barrage on the Brahmani river was mainly to provide water for agriculture and drinking purposes. But the Government has allocated the water to private companies,” alleged Manas Ranjan, an affected person. He lamented that they have got Rs40,000 only as compensation per acre of land while the actual cost is more than Rs40 lakh.
Samal Barrage is now the main source of water for many PSUs and private industries in Angul district. It is reported that around 960 cusec of water has been allocated for industrial use and only 8 cusec for piped water supply.
It has been alleged that the Water Allocation Committee of the State Government, without evaluating the people’s need, has allocated 769.76 cusec of water to 18 industries while two habitations of the Talcher and Dhenkanal municipal areas getting only 3.7 cusec of water each.Similarly, 300.16 cusec of water has been allocated to private industries operating at Talcher from the barrage.