Polavaram: BJD rally slams UPA leaders

The ruling BJD kicked off their anti-Polavaram rally from Motu in Malkangiri district on Monday.

The local BJD leaders including, Malkangiri MLA Mukund Sodi, addressed the meeting till School and Mass Education Minister Rabi Narayan Nanda, Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Ramesh Majhi and Koraput MP Jayaram Pangi landed at the BSF camp at Motu in a chopper at 2 pm.

Unleashing a fusillade at the UPA Government for supporting the Andhra Pradesh Government to clear

all hurdles to complete the Indira Sagar Polavaram project, Nanda said Malkangiri people would not spare even an inch of land for the project.

“If necessary, we will take the battle to the streets of Delhi seeking stop to the project,” Nanda added while addressing the gathering. It is violation of all norms to float the tender for the project when the matter is pending in the Supreme Court and the Godavari Tribunal, the Minister said.

The project, if it comes up with a height of 150 feet, would submerge more than 25 villages across Motu tehsil limits.

Over 300 hectares of forest land will be washed away and many primitive tribal folks residing in the

area displaced. Also addressing the gathering, Majhi and Pangi railed at Manmohan Singh, Sonia

Gandhi and Andhra Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy for taking up the project work without consulting Odisha and Chhattisgarh chief ministers.

Vice-president of the State Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) Bijay Nayak threatened to launch a State-wide agitation seeking to stop to all construction works till cases in the Supreme Court are disposed of.

Bharat Bhusan, representing a AP-based NGO – Centre for Action and Research and Peoples Development (CARPED) -- said the project would displace many people across the three states but

there is nothing wrong on the part of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik holding dialogue with his AP counterpart to sort out the differences.

The district administration had made elaborate security  arrangements at Motu and there was no untoward incident during the meeting.  The rally, however, witnessed only a thin crowd belying the expectations of the party local leaders.

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