MALKANGIRI: A day after members of Ama Janatara Adhikar visited Motu to interact with residents of least nine panchyats likely to be affected due to the controversial Polavaram project, a BJD team comprising former minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak along with Bhrugu Buxipatra, Ramesh Majhi, Jhina Hikaka, Manas Madkami and Raghuram Padal visited the area on Thursday.
The BJD team visited Motu, Alma and Peta Binayakpur villages and sought the locals’ opinion on the project while studying its geographical and technical aspects. The team also visited adjoining Kaler area in Andhra Pradesh to access the situation and interact with the villagers there.
The team which visited the area on the direction of former chief minister and party supremo Naveen Patnaik will submit an extensive report on the contentious project to him after their return to Bhubaneswar.
Meanwhile, locals likely to be affected by the project apprehend the backwater will affect many villages once it is operational. While provisions has been made by the Central government in this year’s budget and the project work expedited, the Odisha government has neither held a gram sabha in the villages likely to be affected or conducted a genuine survey to rehabilitate the locals. “It is quite unfortunate that the Odisha Government has not held gram sabha in the affected villages and conducted any foolproof survey on how many villages will be affected”, said Matam Podiami of Alma village.