Sonepur, July 28: The dawn-to-dusk bandh called by the Sonepur district congress committee paralysed life at Binika today. The bandh was in protest against the state government’s decision to construct three barrages over Mahanadi for the 320MW hydel power project.
In response to the bandh call schools, colleges, banks and all other government and private offices, including that of the block development officer (BDO) and the tehsildar, remained closed. Four-wheelers also stayed off the roads.
Congress activists led by former Sonepur MLA Binod Patra went to different schools, colleges and government offices to ensure that they were closed.
A large numbers of policemen were found deployed in the government offices to maintain law and order. However, no untoward incidents were reported.
Patra said that the project was not in the interest of the people of Subarnapur district.
“Vast stretches of agricultural land, including several villages, will be submerged if the project comes up. There is no logic in the government’s claim that there wouldn’t be any displacement because of the project. The Congress will fight tooth and nail to oppose the project. We demand immediate withdrawal of the project and cancellation of the MoU,” Patra said.
In a related development, at a meeting convened by District Bar Association of Sonepur, a new forum was floated to fight the Sindol project. Cutting across party lines, people from all section of society participated in an open discussion and decided to oppose the project.
The district bar association head will head the Sindol Prakalpa Virodh Manch while the secretary of the bar would be the convener. Three members from each block of the district were taken in the executive committee of the forum.
President of Sonepur Bar Association Ram Sankar Hota said there was eed for a separate platform to fight the project.
“The government is pressing for a project which is not accepted by the people of the area. The project will incur more loss than benefit to the local people. In the meeting today, we had invited people from all section of the society and every one expressed concern over the attitude of the government to implement the project. The forum will oppose the project in a democratic way. We have only one demand. Scrap the project and cancel the MoU with NHPC,” Hota said.
