By IANS,
Raipur: The opposition Congress in Chhattisgarh Tuesday hit out at the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for “selling” rivers and dams to industrial houses.
“The BJP government in Chhattisgarh has started a new job of selling rivers and dams to the industrial houses,” senior Congress leader and former chief minister Ajit Jogi said in the assembly.
He sought a reply from the government for its alleged policy of favouring industrial houses that were setting up coal-fired power plants in the state.
The other Congress legislators too backed Jogi and demanded a statement from the government as to why it had sold the Bogda dam to a private power company that is setting up a 3,600 MW plant in the Janjgir-Champa district.
“The state government is not in the business of selling river, dams and canals to industries,” Water Resources Minister Hemchand Yadav said.
“In fact, the state government is working to develop a chain of dams and canals in key districts and the budget provision for water resources department has risen substantially since the state came into existence in November 2000,” he said.