Water Conflict in Brahmani

Odisha Farmer leader to start indefinite hunger strike from 23rd Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Report by Orissa Diary correspondent; Dhenkanal: The rengali right canal project has been started from the very beginning of 1996, the total expense till date is 723 crores, the proposed irrigated land will be 1 lakh 4 thousand 92 hector. Whereas, out of this irrigated land Lanco industry got 376 hector, GMR kamalang got 455 hector and NTPC, Cesc & Chambal got thousands of hectors.

The District administration favors illegally to the corporate whereas the farmers’ face a lots of problems in the district. The latest example is the Talabarakote village, where the Horticulture gave 2 lakh 20 thousand 543 rupees for Pamolin farming in 51.8 acres. But, astonishingly, now these 51.8 acres of land was donated to the proposed NTPC unit along with thousands of acres of kaju plantation. Installation of 6 electronic traffic systems in a small city like Dhenkanal with the help of 35 Lakhs from Lanco & NTPC establishes the nexus between the district body & the corporate.

There was a tender fixing of 6.25 crores in the Left canal and crores & crores in the right canal project, where the quality of construction & work is very poor. The vigilance knows everything, but it was silent. This shows the integrity of the district administration for eradication of the corruption.

The assistant director of factories & boilers of dhenkanal filed 46 cases against the Bhusan company in the hon’ble court of the SDJM, Dhenkanal. But, he does not know the number of hearings. That means, we’ll go on making cases against the companies, but not thinking of the hearings or judgments’. This proves the exact aim of the director.

The ministry of environment & forests of government of India suspended the final approval under section 2 of the Forest ( Conservation ) Act, 1980 for diversion of 61.48 ha of revenue forest / DPF in Dhenkanal & Angul districts of odisha for setting up of an integrated steel plant by Bhusan steel & strips limited on 11th December 2006 and ordered the state government to take serious actions against the violators. But till date no action was taken by the administration.

The assistant engineer & BDO of the sadar block make serious corruptions having nexus with selected contractors.

The assistant general manager of the supply corporation make a scam of around 5 crores with the help of 19 milers during 2009 -10 paddy procurement by taking lakhs of gunny-bags of the farmers illegally.

The 27 farm ponds done by the soil conservation department has not gone to the real beneficiaries.

ICOMM, the contractor of village level electrification in dhenkanal, on 8th april 2010 tried to make electrical connections at karadabani of nihalprasad thana without taking prior permission, for which one innocent labor of ICOMM from khamar thana Dibakar Behera burnt by electric-shock & then died. But, till date no enquiry was done by the departments.
9.86 acres of debottar land was given by the district administration to the ARSS company for establishment of a mega crosser unit at Nityanandapur, by not obeying the judgment of the hon’ble high court given during 1961. Also the enquiry report regarding this made by the continuing sub-collector Biswanath Acharya has been deliberately misplaced by the officials.

From the above serious points, you can easily think up the integrity of the district administration and their feelings for the poor & the farmers. The elected representatives & party leaders are only thinking for the betterment of themselves & their respective parties. This hurts a lot to the most – innocent dhenkanal people. They’re now self – motivated for any type of agitations for the cause of their right to live in a democratic country like India.

For this, only by a call of krishak sangharsh samiti, nearly 5 thousand farmers from all panchayats of the district rushed to the collector’s office with their own vehicle arrangements on 30th march 2011 and handed over a note of 35 demands to the collector for the governor.

On 4th April at 10.30 am Dhenkanal collector Girish S.N. discussed with , the convener of krishak sangharsh samiti and eminent farmer leader Er. Debashisha Hota, regarding the problems of the farmers to find out the practical & immediate solutions. The scheduled meeting was attended by the PD-DRDA, Dhenkanal Sub-collector, Minor Irrigation Executive Engineer, Flood Executive Engineer, presidents of all Pani-Pachayats, District Civil Supplies Officer and Deputy Director of agriculture. The important demands agreed by the collector are vigilance enquiry to unfold the corruption of crores of rupees in paddy procurement, high-level enquiry for the illegal selling of Sri Raghunathjew lands to ARSS for a mega crosser unit at Nityanandapur, transfer the elephants to the nearest wild-life, change the venue of Gajamara NTPC proposed unit to some other area having more non-agricultural lands, take serious action against Bhusan steel, BRG steel & Rana sponge for their uncontrolled air & water pollution, stop giving river & canal water and agricultural lands for industrialization and agricultural industries should be encouraged.

Today, at the conference hall of hotel debkanya, a press meet was done by the district committee of Krishak Sangharsh Samiti, where Er. Hota threatened for hunger strike till death from coming 23rd May for the sake of the poor farmers of this district, since the collector has disobeyed the agreed 20 demands.

The district secretary Niranjan Sahoo, district treasurer Ranjan Kumar Lenka, district executive body members Pravakar Poi, Sribatsa Biswal, Brajabandhu Sethy, Bijay Ketan Pradhan, Kuna Naik, Kamakhyanagar Block President Pramod Kumar Sethy, Kankadahad Block President Vagirathi Baral & Odapada Block President Sudhakar Sahu, threatened to paralyze the entire district after 23rd May, if the collector disobeys his own decisions.