Cuttack, Aug. 9: More than 500 Mahanadi Banchao Andolan activists were arrested while staging a protest rally here today. They were protesting against allocation of water from Mahanadi river for industrial purposes.

Originating from Matamatha, the rally went up to the office of the superintendent engineer of Eastern Irrigation Circle on Cantonment Road. The protesters went there to submit a memorandum to the superintendent engineer before they were taken into custody.

Police said they were taken into preventive custody for disrupting road traffic, but were released after three hours.

In a bid to give fresh impetus to its movement against use of river water for industrial purposes, the Mahanadi Banchao Andolan activists, led by convenor Gauranga Charan Hota, were demanding cancellation of approvals given to Posco and Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) for taking water from Jobra barrage and Mahanadi flood plain near Gadgadia ghat in Cuttack.

Among others arrested while participating in the rally were former ministers Bijay Mohapatra, Samir Dey, Panchanan Kanungo and former principal of Ravenshaw College Pravat Mishra.

The activists contended there was shortage of water in Mahanadi for irrigation purposes and sufficient water could not be provided to the canals which were meant for irrigation as the state government had permitted different industrial establishments to use water from the river between Hirakud and Cuttack. There was shortage of water even in Hirakud dam and sufficient water could not be provided to Sasan and Bargar canals from there.

“The state government has already signed an MoU with Posco India and Oil India for using water from Jobra barrage without doing any study on water availability in Mahanadi at Jobra barrage in Cuttack. Therefore, the state government is adding to the scarcity of water,” Mahanadi Banchao Andolan Committee’s spokesperson Dilip Mallik said.

The Mahanadi Banchao Andolan Committee had in April urged chief minister Naveen Patnaik “to amend all MoUs with industrial houses and incorporate a provision for creation of water reservoir at their own cost, which will not affect agriculture, the environment, and will not create further problem in supply of drinking water”.

In another development a fortnight ago, the high court had issued notices to the state government on a PIL for intervention against allocation of water to industrial establishments from Mahanadi river.