Dear Friends/Co-sailors,
Greetings from Water Initiatives Odisha!
Today, in the floor of the Assembly, the Energy Minister of the state announced that the Sindhol Hydropower Project has been cancelled. We at Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO) welcome this statement of the Minister.
We also take this opportunity to Congratulate all the villagers and other people who constantly fought this issue and have virtually forced the govt. to roll back this faulty decision.
However, the way things have moved in the govt. corners, we do also apprehend that this may well be a political game being played keeping in mind the forthcoming panchayat elections. WIO therefore urges upon the Govt. to:
1. Issue a Gazette Notification clearly mentioning that the Sindhol Project has been cancelled with immediate effect and that no further move will initiated on this front.
2. We also urge upon the govt. to cancel, with immediate effect, the MoU that was signed between the govt., OHPC and NHPC.
3. We would also like to draw the attention of the government to make public, at least now, the 'Detailed Project Report' (DPR). As you may remember, we kept on asking the government to release the DPR and clear the air on Sindhol.
4. We would also draw your attention to the approval for Terms of References for scoping study of the Sindhol Project granted (with certain conditions) by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Govt. of India, We urge upon the govt. to immediately recommend for scrapping of these ToRs as well.
5. We urge upon you to inform the public the sources from which the upcoming power projects near proposed Sindhol project sites will be allocated water.
We hope, if the government's declaration of the cancellation of the Sindhol Project is real, it would clarify on the above raised issues.
For further information, please contact:
Ranjan Panda
Convenor, WIO
Cell: 9437050103
Email: ranjanpanda@gmail.com
Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO) is a state level coalition of civil society organisations, farmers, academia, media and other concerned, which has been working on water, environment and climate change issues in the state for more than two decades now.
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