No work at Iccha-Kharkhai dam site, says Jharkhand govt

Hours after thousands of villagers of two districts staged demonstration near the Raj Bhavan claiming progress of work at the Ichha-Kharkhai dam, the Jharkhand government today said no work was on at the site.
"Work is not in progress at projects of Ichagarh (Ichagarh-Kharkhai dam) and Swarnarekha," an official release said quoting Principal Secretary of the Water Resources department Sukhdev Singh.
He said the state government had won a case in the Supreme Court after a PIL had been filed following floating of a tender a year back. But nothing has been decided about the tender, thus work has not begun there, Singh added.

As scheme for resettlement was going on, the government has arranged police deployment on security grounds.
Earlier in the day, the protesters of West Singhbhum and Sareikela-Kharsawan districts staged demonstration claiming work was on at Icha dam project and demanded immediate stoppage of work and scrapping of the project.
JMM President and former Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who addressed the demonstration, placed a memorandum to Governor Droupadi Murmu in this connection.