New Delhi: People are not willing to get their daughters married off in some eight villages of Odisha due to lack of water there, a BJD member said in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Rabindra Jena, who represents Balasore in Odisha, spoke of the peculiar problem saying that the water table has gone so down that one cannot get water even 1,000 feet depth.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, he said some village elders from eight panchayats had met him to flag the issue as parents of girls from other areas do not want to get their daughters married in this area. "I am helpless," he said.
Jena urged the Centre to bring water in the Concurrent List of the Constitution from the state list to help ensure that the precious natural resource is available to all.
Shrirang Barne (Shiv Sena) said people of a village in his Maval constituency have to travel several kilometers to reach the mainland as it is surrounded by defence land from three sides. The restriction, he said, was imposed after some villagers moved court on use of passage.
He said despite Pakistan sending in infiltrators, we allow their citizens to enter India through Wagah. He said though the villagers are Indian citizens, they are facing restrictions on their movement.
Another Shiv Sena member Sadashiv Rao Lokhande demanded that education loans given to students be made interest free as they find it difficult to replay the interest of 14 per cent per annum. He claimed that while home buyers have to pay 6 per cent interest, students have to cough up higher interest.
Pritam Munde (BJP) made a strong plea for a passport office in Marathwada region to service some two crore people residing in the backward area.
Bijoya Chakraborty (BJP) expressed concern over the Jamaat-e-Mujahidden terror outfit allegedly spreading tentacles in Assam and West Bengal.
