Bhubaneswar, Sept. 13: People living on the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border today launched a signature campaign against a proposed 4,000megawatt thermal power plant to be set up by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at Lara in the neighbouring state.

Local people alleged that their opinions had not been sought for the thermal power project even though they were going to be affected by the proposed plant. They also opposed another power plant, which is being set up nearby by a private sector company without taking their views into account.

The proposed projects are likely to affect nearly 30,000 people in Sundargarh and Jharsuguda districts of the state.

President of the Lakhanpur Block Sarpanch Sangha Sanjeeb Pradhan said: “Signatures will be collected from 12 gram panchayats, and later, these will be submitted to chief minister Naveen Patnaik, with a plea to intervene in the issue.”

Pradhan said they had planned to organise a protest rally on the border on September 19 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was scheduled to lay the foundation stone for the power project. “Our first demand is that our voice should be heard through public hearing,” he said.

BJP state unit president Suresh Pujari, who hails from the area, said: “Once the project comes up, it would have a disastrous impact on the livelihood of around 30,000 local people. The state government should intervene and take steps to address problem of the people living in the border areas.”

Sources said there was a plan to draw water from the Hirakud dam reservoir and the Mahanadi river for the two projects.

“If our water is used for the projects, the voice of our people should also be heard,” said Pujari.

State energy secretary P.K. Jena said: “Since the thermal power plant project is coming up in Chhattisgarh, we are yet to get hold of the details. We will be able to comment on the project once we have all the information.”