Bhubaneswar, Aug. 3: The state government today said it would hold hearings in the proposed Sindol hydro power project area in western Orissa to elicit public opinion.

The proposal to set up the 320MW-power project in the Mahanadi river basin for which the government signed an MoU with the National Hydro Power Corporation on July 21, had met with resistance from several quarters. While there had been agitations in Sonepur, Sambalpur and elsewhere, the Congress had also made it clear that it would oppose the project. Though the BJP is yet to take an official position, party sources said it, too, was against the project.

Moreover, a powerful section of the BJD, mostly leaders from western Orissa, is said to have come out against the project. With the panchayat elections scheduled early next year, the BJD sources think that the party’s prospects could be marred by the project, as many villages would be submerged.

While the state’s energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak today asserted that not a single village would be affected, people opposing the project claimed that nearly 118 villages would be submerged.

Official sources said the government would delay execution of the hydro power project work at Sindol.

Protesting against the proposed project, people cutting across party lines today observed a 12-hour Sonepur district bandh. All business establishments, schools and colleges remained closed. The local bar association also supported the bandh.

Nayak said: “The state government will execute the project with the cooperation of the public. Before work starts, a series of public meetings will be held. The process for the public hearing has begun.”

He added: “A misinformation campaign is going on against the project. The government will launch a campaign through advertisements to convince people about the likely benefits of the power project.”

The state has already announced that the height of the proposed dam would be 12 metres and not 14 metres as decided earlier.

Turning down Nayak’s claim, BJP MLA Jaya Narayan Mishra said the project would submerge 118 villages and more than 20,000 acre of land would be affected.

Balangir MP Sarat Patnaik, however, said: “Despite reduction of the height (of the dam), a number of villages will be submerged. Thousands of acres will be inundated. The government machinery will not be able to enter the area to conduct public meetings.” He recalled that earlier the BJD government had shelved the project following protests from the people.

Former Sambalpur MP Bhabani Shankar Hota said: “About 20,000 acre of village and forestland, 16,000 acre of cultivable land and 240 acre of homestead land will be submerged. The government has not conducted any survey before signing the MoU,” he said.

The government sources said six villages would be affected because of the Sindol project-I, three villages would be affected in Sindol-II and five villages would be affected by the Sindol-III project. The Sindol-I project will come up at Samablpur, II at Sonepur and III at Boudh district.