VISAKHAPATNAM: The Human Rights Forum (HRF) has demanded that the State government drop the four Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Projects (PSPs) granted to various private entities in the Fifth Schedule region of Visakhapatnam and Parvathipuram-Manyam districts.
A team of HRF has visited all the four project sites and interacted with local people, who are predominantly Adivasis. These projects have been granted permission in open contempt of the law and various Constitutional provisions of the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) and the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (FRA) applicable in the 5th Schedule Region, said Y Rajesh, HRF AP State general secretary, and VS Krishna, HRF AP and TS Coordination Committee member, here on Tuesday.
They said the proposed projects are Yerravaram PSP in Chintapalli and Koyyuru mandals and Pedakota PSP in Ananthagiri, both in Alluri Sitarama Raju district, and Kurukutti in Salur and Karrivalasa in Pachipenta, both in Parvathipuram-Manyam.
Any decision on a project in the Fifth Schedule areas without informed discussion and prior consent of the local grama sabhas amounts to an illegality. In fact, the PESA stipulates that no project in the Scheduled areas can even be conceived without the prior consent of local Adivasi Grama Sabhas. “In respect of these PSPs, no information has been conveyed, no discussion has taken place, there has been no transparency and Adivasis in these areas have been deliberately kept in the dark,” the HRF leaders alleged.
The Supreme Court laid out in the Samata case of 1997 that private entities cannot undertake projects in the Scheduled areas. The present proposals are in violation of the verdict. Moreover, the government has not even held a discussion and prior consultation on these projects in the Tribal Advisory Council. They said Adivasis in the Scheduled areas are opposed to these projects because they perceive them as being harmful to their livelihood and well-being. Each of these PSPs envisages an upper and lower reservoir which in turn requires a fairly large extent of land. For instance, the total area required for both reservoirs in the Yerravaram project (to generate 1200 MW) is 820 acres and for the Pedakota PSP (1000 MW), it is over 680 acres. This will result in physical displacement of Adivasis in the Scheduled areas.
“What is also alarming is that these projects involve drawing water from local sources that are used by Adivasis for their sustenance - for domestic needs and agriculture. It is clear to us that the streams and water bodies from which this drawal will take place are part of the catchment for various reservoirs. In the Yerravaram PSP, it is the Thandava reservoir, for Pedakota PSP it is the Raiwada reservoir and PSPs in Parvathipuram-Manyam will pilfer water from the catchment of Suvarnamukhi river that feeds the Vengalrayasagar reservoir. In effect, this will impact water security of not just the Adivasis in the vicinity of the project areas, but also farmers in the plains,” they explained.