Bolangir: In an untoward development Wednesday afternoon, a high-level committee headed by state Water Resource department chief engineer Jyotirmaya Rath faced vehement opposition from locals who have been displaced due to the Suktel irrigation project in Bolangir.
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The committee was on a visit to the Suktel project site to restart construction work which was halted for nearly a couple of years.
Following stern opposition from the displaced locals, the team was compelled to stop the ongoing construction work. The displaced locals staged a sit-in seeking fulfillment of their 11-point demands, prior to carrying out any construction work at the project site.
The project would inundate over 638 hectare of farmlands. Residents of nearly 16 villages will be completely displaced and villagers of 10 others will be partially displaced, some local villagers fumed.
“There are some issues which displaced locals demanded to be resolved first. However the project construction work will commence soon,” Bolangir district Collector Chanchal Rana informed.
Notably, the ambitious irrigation project was sanctioned in 1996 under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme with an estimated cost of Rs 217.16 crore. It was targeted that the Suktel dam would irrigate four blocks of Bolangir and Subarnapur districts after completion.
PNN
