BJD to vent Niyamgiri ire on Polavaram

BHUBANESWAR: The Biju Janata Dal will hold a series of protests rallies across Orissa against the Andhra government’s Polavaram dam project, which could have adverse impact on the state’s environment. The party, which will organise the first anti-Polavaram rally on Sunday at the southern Malkangiri district headquarters town, has decided to hold the second show in the coastal Jagatsinghpur town on September 18. This will be followed by a few other meetings and culminate in Mahasamavesh (grand convention) at state capital.

“Malkangiri protest rally is just the beginning. BJD is going to organise many such agitation across the state,” party strategist and Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra said here on Friday.

At least nine ministers are scheduled to address the Malkangiri rally, BJD supremo and chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Mr Mohapatra will address rallies at Jagatsinghpur and Bhubaneswar.

Not to lag behind, the Orissa BJP unit also has announced to hold a protest march from Puri to Bhubaneswar to register its protest against the UPA government’s forest clearance to Polavaram project. Orissa BJP Yuva Morcha president, Bhibhuti Jena and general secretary Umakant Patnaik, on Friday said the party would launch a protest march from Puri to Malkangir on October 2. The march would conclude after a week near the Polavaram project where a public rally would be organised.