Balangir, June 12: Work at the district collectorate was paralysed for the second day running as Lower Suktel Project activists blocked all its gates here today.

The activists, led by the Lower Suktel Project Action Committee, are demanding immediate start of the work on the project and proper rehabilitation for the families displaced by it. Action committee sources said they would continue with their agitation at the district collectorate until they received a satisfactory response from the government.

Apart from the action committee, several other organisations, including the Balangir Citizen Committee, district bar association and also people from several villages who would be displaced by the project, also took part in the movement to demand that the project work begin.

Today was the second consecutive day that the activists didn’t allow officials of the collectorate to enter office and staged a dharna in front of the main gate of the collectorate.

President of the Lower Suktel Project Action Committee Gopaljee Panigrahi said the state government was not showing any interest in beginning the project work.

“The government is unduly interested in setting up industries. But when it comes to setting up irrigation projects, it does not show interest. The government doesn’t delay land acquisition in the case of the industries, but it has been 12 years and it still has not been able to acquire land for the Suktel project. The district administration is not taking any initiative either,” he said.

Panigrahi said the BJD legislator and MP of Balangir had made the project an issue during every election campaign, but had not done anything to start it. “The Opposition in the districts are mute spectators,” he said.

Coordinator of the action committee Arun Mishra said the committee would not support the project if there was a plan to supply water to their industries in future from the Suktel project. “We want that only farmers should be benefited by the project. If there is a plan to supply water to industry from the project in future, we will not support the project. The government should make it clear that water will be provided to farmers only for cultivation,” he said.

The action committee demanded that the affected villagers be compensated in accordance with the new relief and rehabilitation policy of the government.

“We can’t accept compensation under the relief and rehabilitation policy of 2006. The villagers must be compensated as per the new relief and rehabilitation policy,” said a villager of Barpugudia.