Scrap Sindol project, says House panel

BHUBANESWAR: The Naveen Patnaik Government on Friday suffered yet another jolt with a House Committee resolving that the Sindol project should be scrapped even as the Opposition members of the panel boycotted its first meeting.The committee will place its recommendation in the next session of the Assembly. While announcing the formation of the committee in the Assembly during the monsoon session last month, Sp eaker Pradip Amat had asked the State Government not to proceed with project-related work till the panel submitted its report.With the Opposition members boycotting the meeting, only five members, including the Speaker and four from the BJD, attended it. Former minister Padmanabha Behera, BJD MLA from Birmaharajpur constituency, told this paper that the committee felt there is no necessity for the project. “We visited our constituencies during the flood and felt that there is no need for such a project,” he said.BJD member from Kantamal Bhagaban Kanhar said when people do not want the project, why should the Government go ahead with it. “We recommended that there should be no such project,” he said. Two ministers __ Prasanna Acharya and Niranjan Pujhari __  also strongly opposed the project. While Acharya represents the Rairakhol constituency, Pujhari is  elected from Sonepur constituency.The committee was constituted after the Opposition protested against the ` 2,600 cr project under which three barrages were planned to be set up in Sambalpur, Sonepur and Boudh districts of western region.The MoU was recently signed between the state-owned OHPC and NHPC for developing the proposed 320 MW Sindol project. Locals opposed the project accusing the State Government of keeping them in the dark as it signed the MoU without informing the villagers or holding public hearing.“Since we are opposed to the project, there is no point in attending the meeting,” BJP member Jaynarayan Mishra said, adding the Government should immediately announce cancellation of the project as it would submerge a large number of villages, besides fertile agricultural fields.Stating that there was no need for the House Committee, Mishra said it was formed to visit the spot and take people’s opinion. But the members resolved to scrap the project without even visiting the project sites, he said and alleged that the Government did not give a detailed project report (DPR) on it.