BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday proposed that the Polavaram project can be reformulated as per Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (GWDT) award without causing large scale submergence in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
He said the project can be reformulated taking into consideration other projects operating in the command areas of Polavaram like the Pattiseema. He, however, alleged that construction is being carried on based on plans and design which are in violation of GWDT award and not agreed to by Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
The Chief Minister expressed concern over the project construction and sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to not allow its construction till all the pending issues are settled in the Supreme Court.
Stating that the interests of Odisha are being sacrificed in the Polavaram project without addressing the State’s legitimate concerns, Naveen alleged in a letter to Modi that the project construction has been taken up by Andhra Pradesh Government unilaterally much before obtaining the CWC clearance.
“It is unfortunate that construction of the project is going on at a rapid pace despite the pendency of the matter in the Supreme Court and also my previous letters on the subject in which I had expressed deep concerns regarding the submergence of a large number of villages in Odisha, majority of which are belonging to Scheduled Tribes if the project continues to proceed in its present form,” he said.
The project works are going on without conducting any public hearing in Odisha which is mandatory for getting environment clearance, he said and added that the environmental and forest, rehabilitation and resettlement and technical advisory committee (TAC) clearances were in violation of standard norms.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has issued the abeyance on ‘stop work order’ from time to time without conducting any public hearing by the project authorities in the affected areas in Odisha, Naveen said and added that Odisha filed an original suit and various interim applications in the Supreme Court against construction of the project. Besides, Odisha also filed an application for amendment of the original suit after Polavaram was declared a National project, he said.
The Chief Minister said, “I am writing this letter with the hope of impressing upon you the magnitude of the consequences people of Odisha will have to face because of the submergence of tribal lands, flooding of the fertile agricultural lands, mass displacement of villages, all of which can be avoided if only an opportunity is given for final resolution of the disputes pending before the Supreme Court.” “If the project is allowed to be completed before the resolution of all pending issues, it will cause permanent injury to the interest of Odisha and its people,” he added.