BHUBANESWAR: An all-party Assembly committee headed by Speaker Surya Narayan Patro has been constituted to take up the issue of unilateral construction of Polavaram dam project by neighbouring Andhra Pradesh with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Announcing the formation of the 16-member committee before adjourning the Budget session of the Assembly sine die on Saturday, the Speaker said representatives of the panel will visit Delhi and meet the Prime Minister over the issue. The Assembly Secretariat will seek appointment from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in this regard.
Stating that the committee has been formed keeping in view the concerns expressed by members of the House over the project, Patro said the panel will have members from all the parties including BJP and Congress.
Members of the committee are Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha, Agriculture Minister Arun Sahoo, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Sudam Marndi, Water Resources Minister Raghunandan Das, ST-SC Development Minister Jagannath Saraka and Government Chief Whip Pramila Mallick. BJP chief whip Mohan Majhi, Congress whip Taraprasad Bahinipati and Laxman Munda of the CPI(M) are also members of the panel.
The project is being opposed by the Odisha Government from the beginning on the grounds that the multi-purpose dam is being constructed by Andhra Pradesh in violation of all existing norms. Former minister and senior BJD leader Debiprasad Mishra said the statutory Gram Sabhas have not been conducted even though the project will displace tribals in Odisha’s Malkangiri district and submerge reserve forests.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had written to Modi on July 2 seeking his intervention to stop construction of the project till all pending issues are settled by the Supreme Court. Stating that the dam should not be constructed by sacrificing Odisha’s interests, Naveen had pointed out that there were violations in obtaining requisite clearances for the project from the Central Ministries.
Naveen had said the Polavaram project should be reformulated as per the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal award without causing large scale submergence in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.