House committee recommends scrapping of Sindol project

A house committee of the state legislative assembly constituted to take stock of the ground realities of the controversial 320 MW Sindol hydro power project has recommended scrapping of the project.

“We have placed our views relating to the Sindol project before the house committee. Our views reflect the views of the people affected by the project. The house committee has recommended scrapping of the project,” said BJD MLA and one of the committee members, Padmanav Behera.

The speaker of the legislative assembly and the committee chairman Pradeep Amat, however, declined to comment on the matter.

“The committee's decision will be known after we place our report in the assembly,” Amat told reporters after the committee's meeting.

Prasanna Acharya, minister for health and family welfare, who is also a member of the committee said, “We have communicated the opinion of the project affected people in the meeting. I share the same view on the Sindol project with the people of my region. The Naveen Patnaik government will never go against the public opinion on any project.”

Commenting on the absence of Congress and BJP MLAs, he said, “There is no justification in boycotting the meeting of the house committee. The absence of the Opposition MLAs can only be construed as politically motivated.”

The house committee on the controversial Sindol project was constituted after the assembly witnessed a stormy adjournment session in the monsoon session that ended on August 27.

The Opposition Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan had demanded scrapping of the MoU signed with National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) on the project.

The state energy minister Atanu Sabsysachi Nayak had maintained earlier that there was no question of going ahead with the project without the consent of the project affected people.

The Sindol project was to affect 43,461 people belonging to 798 families in 60 villages.

NHPC Ltd (formerly National Hydroelectric Power Corporation) and the Orissa government owned Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) had recently signed an MoU to jointly implement three hydel power projects in the state at an estimated cost of Rs 2,600 crore.

The three hydel power projects- Sindol-I (100 MW), Sindol-II (100 MW) and Sindol-III (120 MW) having a total capacity of 320 MW are expected to be commissioned in 4-5 years. All the three hydel power projects will come up on Mahanadi river.