FOR A CAUSE: Magsaysay awardee Rajendra Singh addressing farmers' gathering at Baragarh on Wednesday.

BHUBANESWAR: Thousands of farmers on Wednesday assembled for a public convention near the western Orissa town of Baragarh, about 400 km from here, to protest against allocation of water from the Hirakud reservoir on the Mahanadi for industrial purposes.

The farmers threatened that if their fields remained un-irrigated, they would forcibly cut off the water link to industrial units.

Addressing the gathering, Magsaysay awardee Rajendra Singh said: "Without access to water, the agrarian economy will crumple. The government is acting at the behest of industrial houses and ignoring farmers' interests."

Call to ryots

He called upon the farmers to launch massive mass movement to stake claim on the water resource, which was a vital component of agriculture. Assembled under the aegis of Western Orissa Farmers' Organisations Coordination Committee, the leaders accused that the water of the reservoir meant for irrigation purpose was being diverted to industrial houses.

"The State government signed accords with industrial to units to provide 478 cusecs for non-irrigation purposes. The diversion will affect 50,000 acres of rabi crop," convenor of the committee Lingaraj said.

He said that the committee had decided to form Sangharsh Vahini in every village to oppose allocation of the reservoir water for industrial use. Farmers would start civil disobedience movement if their attempts to convince the State government proved futile, he warned.

Organisers said that they onvited 15 MPs and MLAs to reply to questions of farmers on water diversion issue. Except one MLA, none turned up.

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