Sambalpur: The BJD will launch its fortnight-long "Mahasangram for Mahanadi" from the origin of the river from Wednesday.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik will attend the functions at Sukhasoda village under Lakhanpur block in Jharsuguda district and at Chikli village under Ambhabana block in Bargarh district. Naveen will flag off the proposed bike rallies from both the ends.
Party MLAs Raseswari Panigrahi (Sambalpur), Rohit Pujari (Rairakhol), Ramesh Phatua (Rengali) and Sambalpur district unit president Pramod Rath said all arrangements had been made for the beginning of the programme. The rally beginning from Sukhasoda will reach Sambalpur via Brajarajnagar, Jharsuguda, Rengali and the rally coming from Chikli will reach Sambalpur via Bargarh, Attabira and Burla. Both the groups will join in Sambalpur and have "evening aarti", after darshan of Ma Samaleswari on the bank of the Mahanadi.
The rally will cover a distance of about 1,500km and end at Paradip on May 31, covering 15 districts along the downstream. The main aim of the programme was to educate, enlighten and involve people on the issue on the alleged highhandedness of the Chhattisgarh government and the support of Centre. The rally will cover Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Boudh, Anugul, Dhenkanal, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Khurda, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and Puri districts.
Thousands of people and farmers from Chhattisgarh residing near Odisha border villages such as Jharmunda, Kundotolai, Ordi, Bhatli, Kusmuda and Pusor will take part in the rally at Sukhasoda as they have been affected by the Kalma dam. There has been no cultivation for the past three years in the area, they alleged, adding that there was problem of drinking water because of the construction of a barrage on the Kola river for supplying water to Jindal plant of Raigarh.
"The Mahanadi is not only a river, it is the lifeline of the people of Odisha. Common people, farmers and fishermen of 15 districts living on the bank of Mahanadi are dependent the river," Panigrahi said.
With the construction of a huge Kalma dam and barrages by the BJP-led Chhattisgarh government on the upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi, the inflow of water into the reservoir has been completely dried up. It has not only caused problems for the farmers, but also created acute shortage of drinking water in Jharsuguda, Sambalpur and Bargarh districts, a BJD leader said.
The BJD alleged that the BJP government of Chhattisgarh, taking advantage of the same party government at the Centre, had constructed dams and barrages, violating the inter-state river board agreement and environmental laws. However, after a long fight and directive of the Supreme Court, the Modi government has been forced to set up tribunal over the issue, it alleged.
