Even as the party observed a day-long hartal in four districts in undivided Koraput district against the Polavaram multi-purpose project, the Biju Janata Dal legislators disrupted the proceedings of the State Assembly here on Monday over the issue.
As soon as Speaker Niranjan Pujari adjourned the proceedings of the Assembly, the BJD legislators staged a dharna in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Assembly premises to register their protest against passage of the Polavaram Bill.
They blamed both Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress for supporting the Polavaram Bill in Parliament.
The ruling party legislators then marched down to Raj Bhavan and submitted a memorandum to Governor S. C. Jamir seeking his intervention in the matter.
The legislators urged the Governor to impress upon the Central government to consider the grievance of the State of Odisha for a re-look on the project design in order to avoid submergence of large areas of the State by the Polavaram project.
The disruption of Assembly proceedings by the ruling BJD legislators was criticised by opposition Congress and BJP.
The BJD has expressed apprehension that a large number of tribal people in Malkangiri district will be affected by the construction of the Polavaram project in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. The BJD leaders as well as several environmental activists of Odisha have claimed that if the Polavaram project comes up as per its present plans of increased height of the dam, it would lead to submergence of villages in Malkangiri district of Odisha.
The revenue districts where the 12 hour long hartal call had been given were Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Rayagada. Vehicular traffic was completely disrupted in these four districts during this hartal, as the Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) had preferred to keep its buses off road as precautionary measure and the private bus operators of all these districts had preferred to support the agitation.
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