Sambalpur/Kolabira: Residents of Samasingha panchayat under Kolabira block in Jharsuguda district, at a meeting, Sunday decided to boycott the upcoming by-election over a defunct irrigation project, a report said. Soon, two state ministers – Tukuni Sahu and Niranjan Pujari who were campaigning in the area – arrived at the village and pacified the angry residents. Appropriate measures will be taken to resolve the issue once the elections are over, they said. After the election, a village team will be invited to Bhubaneswar to discuss the issue, promised the ministers.
On the other hand, the villagers demanded immediate repair of the irrigation project and construction of a barrage on the river, it was learnt. Though the farmers dropped their current boycott plan on the assurance of the ministers, they threatened to boycott the 2024 state elections if their demands were not met. According to them, the mega irrigation project set up on the river Veden in Sodamal village has been defunct for a long time. The site selected for the project is a low lying land, for which it has failed to work in the summer, they alleged. Locals have been complaining about their plight for years, but to no avail. Left with no choice, the villagers decided to boycott the elections, they said
