BHUBANESWAR: BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Saturday urged party members to continue their fight to protect the interest of tribal communities who are likely to be affected by the Polavaram project of Andhra Pradesh government.
Patnaik’s call for sustained agitation came after a delegation of party leaders led by Debi Prasad Mishra met him at his residence to brief him on their recent visit to Delhi, where they held discussions with several Union ministers and submitted a memorandum expressing concern about the adverse impact of the project on tribal population in Malkangiri district.
In a social media post, the leader of the Opposition Patnaik said, “The Polavaram project will submerge many areas of Malkangiri and greatly affect our tribal brothers and sisters. I discussed with the @bjd_odisha delegation which submitted a memorandum to the central government. I advised them to continue fighting for the rights of the people.”
“We apprised the party president about our interaction with Union Jal Shakti minister CR Patil, senior officials from the ministry of Tribal Affairs, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and chairpersons of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) and the Central Water Commission (CWC),” Mishra told reporters after meeting Naveen.
Apart from the seven members of the delegation, all the Rajya Sabha MPs had also accompanied the team during their meetings with central government officials, he added.
Former MP Pradeep Majhi said the party will launch a series of agitation from January to demand justice for the tribal people of Malkangiri who will be affected by the project.