Naveen Govt likely to face farmers wrath

  The Naveen led BJD-BJP state government has been facing problems one after another in the recent past. After Posco and State Assembly speaker's resignation over sex scandal, Hirakud dam water controversy seems to have resurfaced again.

The show-down between Orissa government and the farmers over the sharing of Hirakud dam water to the industrial houses is likely to further deepened after the farmers pledged on March 23 to continue their agitation till the government stops allowing the dam water to the industrial houses.

The farmers on the eve of the 64 th 'sacrifice day‘ of Saheed Bhagaat Singh organized the `Sankalp Samabesh' near the dam site at Balbashpur, 14 KM away from Sambalpur. They have taken a pledge by taking dam water in their hands to 'continue their agitation' till the government does not bows down.

The ` Sankalp Samabesh' was organised by the Western Orissa Farmer' Coordination Committee. More than one thousand farmers' representatives participated in the Samabesh and vowed to intensify their agitation on the dam water issue.

"Water of the dam is for the farmers and not for the industries, so we warned the government to refrain from allowing the dam water to the industrial houses by signing MOUs blindly. In order to show our solidarity today we observed "Sankalp Samabesh" at the dam site near the `Laxman Rekha' (the line of control fixed by the farmers) and pledged to continue our agitation till government stops supplying water to industries", the convener of the coordination committee Ashok Pradhan said.

"The water capacity of the reservoir is slowly reduced due to heavy siltation during the last 50 years and presently the water problem will be acute due to the ongoing seven major projects on the river Mahanadi by the Chhatishgarh government. So, in this juncture, the water policy of the government would create a tussle between the farmers and industrial houses if the government does not behave properly on the issue of dam water", he added.

The farmers from all districts of the western Orissa participated in the "Sankalp Samabesh" despite the bad weather. The farmer leaders of Bargarh, Sambalpur, Sonepur addressed the farmers.

The other agenda of the meeting was the follow-up of the recent meeting of the farmer leaders with the Chief Minister Navin Patnaik held on March 7. “We have submitted 18 points charter of demand during our meeting with the CM, but it seemed the government is not at all interested with our problems. Till date, the government has not taken any positive step as suggested in our memorandum. So, we are not interested for any further talk with the CM in connection to the dam water issue", the farmer leader and co-convener of the coordination committee Lingaraj said.

The farmers have decided to continue their agitation till the achievement of their goal. "We have marked a "Laxman Rekha" (Line of control, a wall construction by the farmers near the Dam) to restrain the industrial houses to take water from the dam. Now, we want the government and other political parties to take concrete steps to stop misuse of dam water instead of making it a political issue", he said.

It may be mentioned here that farmers of the western Orissa have been jointly fighting against the state government's decision of allowing the industrial houses to take water from the Hirakud reservoir. To show their solidarity the farmers have built a human chain of 15 km long on the side of the Hirakud dam on October 26, 2006 . “Our intension of making the human chain was just to give an idea to the government about the farmers' unity and to give a massage to review its water policy on the sharing of dam water with the industrial houses”, Ashok Pradhan asserted.

But the farmers when did not see any changes on the state government attitude on the dam water issue the famers organized a ‘Chetabani Dibash' at Bargarh on January 10 to warn the government to stop watering to the industries.

However, the attitude of the government remained unchanged and during this period the government allowed few more industries to take water from the Hirakud reservoir. Finally, the farmers for the first time changing their track went for “civil disobedience” agitation on November 6, 2007 at the main dam area. They also tried to enter the restricted zone of the dam. The situation went out of control and the police resorted to lathi change on the farmers to disperse them. Hundred of farmers got inured in the lathi charge .

The incident proved the farmers as ‘mercy in disguise'. The incident created‘havoc' in the political arena as the oppositions got a change to attack the government. They stalled state assembly demanding high level enquiry on the matter. Government was totally moved with this issue. Navin Patnaik directed the RDC to inquire the incident. The collector of Sambalpur was changed.

But the main question has remained unanswered. It is not only the opposition Congress but also the ruling BJP and BJD parties tried to console the farmers by organizing rally in Sambalpur and Bargarh to show sympathy on them. Going one step ahead, the state government declared packages of Rs.300 crore for the welfare of farmers and renovation of Hirakud dam and canal system.

But the government did not dare to say a word on the sharing of dam water to the industrial houses. “We know this government has already surrendered before the industrial houses and does not bother about the future of the farmers of western Orissa” Senior farmer leader Murari Prasad Purohit said,“It is time for every individual to put moral pressure on the government to stop allowing dam water to the industries as the will soon lead shortage of water and create a serious problem on irrigation”, he suggested.

However, the farmers continued their protest and built a wall on the side of the dam just five days after the lathi charge incident. The farmers referring the 10 feet wall as chasi rekha (line of the farmer) warned the industrial houses not to dare to cross the line. And after this incident, few industries have already discontinued putting of pipelines.

“But how long this will work unless the state government does not stipulate proper guidelines to instruct the industries to arrange their own water”, the former chief engineer Karunakar Supakar said.

According to him, every industry should have its own water source may be in form of water harvesting. “But the attitude of state government and its blind industrialization policy is the main cause of the problem”, he said.

So, after the farmers of the region took pledged on the dam site (near the farmers' line) taking water in their hand and vowed to continue this agitation not to allow the industries to take water from the dam would definitely create a serious problem in the future.
The writer is a Sambalpur based journalist. He can be contacted at ajitnayak12@yahoo.co.in