BALANGIR: Balangir Action Committee (BAC) has renewed its efforts to settle the dispute between the State Government and local villagers over the Lower Suktel Irrigation Project.
Members of BAC members visited Paradhiapali and conducted a meeting with the villagers who are up in arms against the project.
The move of BAC, which is spearheading a movement in support of the dam project, comes after construction was stopped due to stiff opposition from villagers around two months back.
Residents of Paradhiapali village, the epicentre of the agitation, are seeking one-time compensation as per Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Act, 2013. They also want to include members of families who have now achieved 18 years of age.
Worried over stoppage of project work, BAC had earlier met officials of the district administration to end the impasse with the agitating villagers.
BAC leader Gopalji Panigrahi along with a 30-member team visited Paradhiapali and urged the villagers to cooperate with the administration in carrying out the project work. The members also discussed the problems arising out of the project, compensation and rehabilitation issues with the villagers.
Panigrahi appealed to the agitating villagers not to jeopardise the project on which the Government has already spend Rs1,500 crores. At the meeting, the villagers raised their concerns over the proposed dam and pressed their old demands.
Panigrahi said BAC will launch an agitation demanding resumption of construction work soon.
Once commissioned, the project will irrigate 29,146 hectare of land in Balangir district and 2,684 hectare in Sonepur, covering 189 villages.
Work on the project has been disrupted several times in the last 12 years due to frequent conflicts between pro and anti-dam activists.