BHUBANESWAR : As tree felling in Balarampur village of Dhenkanal district for setting up a beer bottling plant became difficult for the State Government to handle because of the outrage among the people and the ongoing winter session of the Assembly, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday cancelled the project in that location after receiving the report from the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC).
The RDC, who submitted his report on Monday, recommended cancellation of land allocated for the bottling plant which was to be set up by Kolkata-based P and A Bottlers Private Limited. The report also recommended that alternative site should be provided for the proposed plant and unnecessary cutting of trees stopped forthwith.
The Chief Minister had directed the RDC to inquire into the matter and immediately stop tree cutting after the villagers lodged a strong protest. He had laid the foundation stone of the said project through video conferencing on November 3. However, the construction work of the project scheduled to begin on November 8 was stopped due to the protest by the villagers.
The issue witnessed noisy scenes in the Assembly on the day and an adjournment motion brought by the Opposition members could not be discussed as the Speaker adjourned the House till 3 pm.
Criticising the ruling BJD members for disrupting the proceedings of the House, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Narasingh Mishra said the ruling party members were afraid of discussion on the adjournment motion notice on tree felling for beer factory. “The House was adjourned till 3 pm for no reason,” he said.
BJP member Pradip Purohit said there was no need to disrupt the proceedings of the House by the BJD over a matter relating to Central funding. “The BJD MPs could have raised the matter in the Lok Sabha. But the BJD MLAs deliberately raised this issue in the Assembly to avoid a discussion on tree felling,” he said.