Bargarh: The rage over the proposed Anga river bridge project and the construction of a mega irrigation project at Pujharipali in Padmapur sub-division in this district flared up again after villagers who are likely to be displaced for the projects wrote to the President of India pleading for euthanasia Saturday.
The villagers have pleaded with the President to grant them permission for euthanasia instead of displacing them from their native land.
Hundreds of farmers of the area visited the Bargarh head post office and posted their letters addressed to the President.
“About 30,000 people in the area likely to be displaced for the projects have wrote letters to the President pleading for euthanasia,” Balakrushna Nayak of Anga Nadibandh Yojana Pratirodh Committee said.
Sources said after repeatedly changing the sites of the proposed irrigation project during last three decades, the government has now planned to build it at Pujaharipalli.
The proposed project would displace 30,000 people of 6228 families in 32 mouzas. Over 11 mouzas will be completely submerged while 21 villages will be partially affected. All the villagers will have to lose their homestead and farmlands.
A total of 3912.67 hectares of private land, 212.35 hectares of forest land and 974.98 hectares of other land will be submerged along with minerals underneath.
The people’s opposition to the project is not new but has been going on for a long period. They have been trying to draw the attention of the state government to their plight by conducting meetings, Satyagrahas, mass movements, rallies and demonstrations. However, the state is yet to act on their pleas, the villagers alleged.
This has perhaps prompted them to choose euthanasia instead of being displaced, committee members Padmalochan Beria, Chamaru Dharua and Khirasindhu Sahu said.
Committee members Shyamlal Nayak, Rakhyapal Sahu, Ramesh Barik and convener Ramesh Mohapatra of Jay Kishan Andolan among others were present during the posting of the letters.
