Water conservation activist, Magsaysay Award winner and Waterman of India, Rajendra Singh has backed the protestors’ concerns over the mega pipe water project in the Kharasrota river in Kendrapada district and urged the Government to stop the project.“I want to aware the State Government that the project is not going to benefit the State. The State Government should understand that I am the friend of Odisha and for which I am against the project. If water is drawn from here then there would be ingress of saline water from sea into the river triggering a doom for the people and the biodiversity. If the State Government would not stop the project, I will fight against the project with the locals,” warned Singh. The Bhitarkanika bio-diversity is going to be disturbed. It is purely wrong. The Government should protect the eco-sensitivity zone of Bhitarkanika, stated Singh.
Singh along with river activist Sudarshan Das visited Kendrapada on Monday to join a meeting organised by the Kharasrota Banchao Sangram Samiti at Achyutpur. They met the protestors there including environmentalist, Srikant Nayak, who has been staging fast unto death at the DistrictHeadquarters Hospital for last 15 days.Singh expressed his solidarity with Nayak and was shocked to find the insensitivity of the State Government in not holding any discussion with Nayak so far.“The Odisha Government looks more insensible than the British.Whenever Gandhiji resorted to agitation, within 3-4 days, the British Government used to hold discussion with him to withdraw the stir. But here the State Government has not held any concrete discussion with Nayak whose health condition is worse,” said Singh. According to Sudarshan Das, he has raised the Kharasrota river issue at the National Convention of water activists, held at Chennai recently and brought before it the ongoing protest of the locals. All the activists, including that of the Mahanadi Banchao Andolan, are with the agitators of Kendrapada, Das said.