BJD accuses central government of blocking Orissa projects

BHUBANESWAR - Orissa’s ruling Biju Janata Dal Saturday intensified its tirade against the Congress-led central government, accusing it of blocking various mega projects in the state including one by South Korean steel major POSCO.

In the “Save Orissa” rally, ministers and senior BJD leaders also accused the central government of deliberately scrapping the Vedanta mining project.

“It was a conspiracy by the central government to stall the mega projects in Orissa,” Steel and Mines Minister Raghunath Mohanty said, at a rally at Jagatsinghpur town, some 74 km from Bhubaneswar where POSCO planned to build its $12 billion steel plant.

Citing example of POSCO, he said the ministry of environment and forests itself had given stage I and II clearance to the project. “Now it wants to scrap this by citing violations. What it was doing earlier,” he asked.

Several other speakers also blamed the central government for adopting different yardsticks while approving projects in non-Congress ruled states, referring to the Polavaram project on river Godavari in Andhra Pradesh.

The central government approved the Polavaram project knowing well that it will submerge tribal villages in Orissa’s Malkangiri district, they said.

The Jagatsinghpur rally was the third the BJD organised after similar protests early this month - one near Niyamgiri hills in Kalahandi district to protest the scrapping of the Vedanata project and another at the district headquarters of Malkangiri to protest against the Polavaram project.

Meanwhile, anti-POSCO activists also held a similar rally elsewhere in the district to protest the POSCO project.