Balangir: Hundreds of farmers from Saintala block on Wednesday staged demonstration in front of the district collectorate after their land had been inundated because of breaches in the newly built embankment on the Tel river.
The demonstration organised by the Zila Adivasi Kalyan Sangh demanded arrest of the contractor, who had built the embankment, and adequate compensation to the farmers, who had suffered crop loss. The protesters handed over a memorandum containing six demands to the assistant collector Sankarshan Paradhan in absence of the district collector.
District collector Arindam Dakua ordered an inquiry into the allegation of substandard work and corruption in the construction of the embankment. Sources said farmers of several villages on the Tel banks at Saintala block, including Belgaon, Siskela, Jamtara, Deuli, Singhbahali, Babu Ulba and Kandh Ulba, had suffered crop loss after flood in the river had inundated their firm land. One DD Builders Limited owned by Dambaru Dhar Agrawal had taken up work of the 6-km-long embankment at Rs 10.05 crore in November 2015 and completed it in May 2018.
However, the work was of such low standard that the embankment failed to stand even the first flood it faced on August 17.
Saintala farmer Baidya Majhi said the embankment was built to act as a protection to their land. "We were happy that the embankment would save our land from inundation during the flood in the Tel. But, it failed in serving its purpose. We have suffered heavy crop loss," he said.
Sangh president Braja Kishore Singhbhoi demanded vigilance inquiry into the work. "There is lot of corruption involved in the work. The work is of very low standard. There are no proper stone packing in the embankment, and the wall has also not been concretised. The project, which had been taken up to save crops, instead damaged it. We demand arrest of the erring contractor and compensation of Rs 10 lakh to each farmers, who have incurred crop loss," Bhoi said.
A joint committee with Titilagarh sub-collector and additional project director (technical) of the DRDA, Balangir has been formed to probe into the allegation. The committee will submit its report within 15 days.
