BHUBANESWAR: Biju Janata Dal leaders on Sunday slammed the Centre for giving final clearance to the controversial Indira Sagar Polavaram project by ignoring protests from Orissa where 20,000 tribal families of 29 villages are going to be displaced by the dam. Addressing the 'Malkangiri banchao, Polavaram hatao' rally, the BJD leaders, including seven ministers, announced that not an inch of land from Orissa would be conceded for construction of the dam. The rally in Malkangiri was attended by people from all over the undivided Koraput district. Opposition parties, however, alleged that negligible number of Koya tribals from the villages, to be affected by the project, were seen at the rally. Sunday's rally was the second in the series of rallies planned by the BJD to protest against the Centre's apathy towards Orissa. The first rally was held at Lanjigarh on September 3 after the rejection of the mining proposal of Vedanta in Niyamgiri. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, however, did not attend Sunday's rally, which was held amidst tight security in the worst Naxalite affected district. Opposition parties alleged that the rally would not have much of an impact as the BJD has suddenly woken up to the danger from the project only after the Vedanta fiasco. Addressing the rally, Finance Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei said a large number of tribals will be uprooted as vast areas of Malkangiri are set to be submerged and swallowed by the Godavari river if Polavaram dam is constructed. Revenue Minister Surya Narayan Patro threatened to intensify the antiPolavaram stir and take it beyond the State's boundaries. Charging the Centre with adopting double standards, the BJD leaders alleged that on the one hand the Congressled UPA stalled projects like Vedanta and Posco in Orissa under the garb of forest and environment laws and, on the other, it flouted all rules while clearing Polavaram. Presiding over the meeting, Jeypore MLA Rabinarayan Nanda said when the State is not going to get either a drop of water or one unit of energy from the project, why should the project be allowed to come up at the cost of the people and the State's fertile lands. Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) State convenor Sanjay Dasburma criticised Sonia Gandhi for promising national status to the project. Among others, ministers Pramila Mallik, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Sarada Nayak, Pushpendra Singhdeo, and Ramesh Majhi, BJD MPs Siddhanta Mohapatra and Jayram Pangi, BYJD general secretary Bijay Nayak, several MLAs, former MLAs and senior leaders addressed the rally.