Conspiracy against Odisha, says BJD

The Pioneer, Aug 26, 2010
PNS, Bhubaneswar

Terming the disapproval of stage II environment clearance for the Niyamgiri bauxite mining project as a political conspiracy by the Congress led UPA Government, the Biju Yuba Janata Dal (BYJD) on Thursday staged a dharna in front of Raj Bhawan and submitted a memorandum to the Governor entailing the Union Government has adopted an anti-people policy for the State.

10 MLAs of the BJD, mayors of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar and other leaders of the party joined the dharna led by BYJD president Sanjay Das Burma. The leaders came down heavily on the Congress led UPA Government and alleged that the latter was following different policies for different States.


Alleging that the Union Government was showing step motherly attitude towards the State, they said while the former gave requisite clearances to Andhra Pradesh for its Polavaram Project in which people of at least 29 villages of Malkanagiri district would be displaced and thousands of hectares of land would be submerged, it did a political game and disallowed approvals for the Niyamgiri bauxite mining project which would have brought a lot of developments in a backward region like Kalahandi district.

The BYJD also staged dharna in Bhawanipatna and Jagatisnghpur district headquarters. The protest assumes significance in the wake of general secretary of All India Congress Committee Rahul Gandhi addressed a public meeting at Langigarh.