On 16 th March Padayatra began from Pipalapanka and will end at Ganjam in Odisha on 25 th March to create public opinion and call for the State Government to withdraw the proposed Dam at Pipalapanka forest which will lock the only available natural flow of water river Rushikulya which is the lifeline of Ganjam district.At the same time we demand to stop illegal sand mining .
On each of all its tributaries like Jarau,Badanadi,Baghua,Dhanei and Ghodahada a reservoir has been built since a long for which these rivers can not contribute a drop of water to its flow soon after rain season end,so Rushikulya does not get any feeding water from these tributaries except only the original flow through Pipalapanka where Adani merges with it.Now the proposed Dam on this original flow will be constructed to store rain water as well as the orinal flow comes from Rushimal forest in Kandhamal. This will prevent the natural flow from Pipalapanka to Ganjam mouth ,the Bay of Bengal from November to June .The river will be totally dried and it’s ecology will be lost leading all lift irrigation pumps defunct and tanks and wells will be waterless as the ground level water will go down. This was proposed in 1996 for Tata Steel company at Gopalpur but for the said causes mass protest in which many progressive political leaders along with me were involved in Ganjam district and it forced the then Government to stop.
Again now the purpose of this dam in the name irrigation is to supply water to industries and Gopalpur port of Adani Company .
Since two years people of Ganjam district under the leadership of Rushikulya Suraksha Action Committee started campaign against such destructive dam and illegal massive sand mining in broad day light which has caused irreparable harm to river.During 28 years after this Dam Project was stopped the climate change has lessened the rain days for which the natural flow of water has been reduced for which the mouth of river at Bay of Bengal is getting salt water from sea .People of Ganjam and Chatrapur Blocks are getting salty water from water supply projects.The back water also becomes more salty for which fish production has been reduced.If totally the natural flow of water will be prevented by Proposed Dam there will be no sweet water even in ground .Not only the people of villages on banks of river will be deprived of drinking water ,but also domestic animals.The Drinking water supply project to Berhampur town from Janibili Anicut and irrigation canal system will suffer due to no natural water flow .
Pipalapanka has green natural forest area of two thousand hactares with rich biodiversity as a primary source of livelihood of tribals of 23 villages which are to be submerged in proposed Dam.Though the government claims to irrigate about 10 thousand acres of land but the Feasible Report says irrigation only for two villages.One year back the Ganjam Administration Authority had announced in press that the water of amount 60 millon gallons daily will be supplied to industries through steel pipes from proposed reservoir to Berhampur and Chatrapur. Now the news BJP Government has already handed over Gopalpur port to Adani,the blue -eyed boy of the Prime Minister.Even for irrigation can any government prevent water supply for this company once the dam is built? Why this madness for the dam at the cost of huge loss of natural resources including the death of the river when it was once rejected by the people ?
It would be prudent on the part of the government to renovate all the said reservoirs which remain dry being silted.And also the rain water from down flow in the river can be stored in big tanks and available small lakes on two sides of the river in a decentralised way to provide water for drinking and small irrigation uses.Why again another new dam to kill the river?
The government or any private company has no right to kill a river in the name of development as the people have right over the river and the river has right over its natural flow and necessary sand bed to bear water to be alive.
Environmental activists,social workers,intellectuals like Prafulla Samantara,prof Sudhir Raut,Bhal Chandra Sadangi,Simanchal Nahak,Aditya Rath ,Sudarshan Das,Arun Jena ,Shyam Samundar Khadanga joined first day Padayatra and many others continue today also.
Prafulla Samantara is a social and environmental activist
