BJD to highlight adverse impact of Polavaram project

Bhubaneswar: Strongly opposing the change in the design of Polavaram multi-purpose project in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the BJD on Monday announced it will take the matter to Delhi. A delegation of the BJD would leave for Delhi on Tuesday and meet top officials of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Central Water Commission and Ministry of Tribal Affairs and submit memoranda on the adverse impact of Polavaram project on Odisha, said BJD coordination committee chairperson Debi Prasad Mishra.

Mishra said the party’s seven Rajya Sabha members will join the delegation in Delhi. He said party president Naveen Patnaik had earlier constituted a fact-finding committee comprising senior leaders on Polavaram dam, which, after visiting the impact zones, submitted the report to him. According to the committee, the project will have an adverse impact on the people of Malkangiri, Mishra said, adding that around 200 villages in Motu and Padia blocks of the district will be inundated. He said the Odisha government in 2007 had moved the Supreme Court alleging that impact assessment study was not made before allowing the project to be implemented by Andhra Pradesh government. Mishra said the Supreme Court in 2022 had directed the Centre to convene meetings between Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. However, no such meeting took place, he said, adding that apart from legal battle, the BJD has decided to highlight the issue in Delhi.

“How can the Centre allow a project which will inundate 200 tribal villages?” the BJD leader asked at a press conference here. The BJD leader said the Andhra Pradesh government unilaterally changed the design of the dam project notwithstanding its adverse impact on Odisha.

While the initial design was made with water-bearing capacity of Polavaram dam project at 36 lakh cusecs of water, it was later enhanced to 50 lakh cusecs of water.

“Therefore, the backwater of the project will inundate around 200 villages, a large patch of forest and revenue land in Malkangiri district,” Mishra said, blaming the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, which in the budget allocated Rs 15,000 crore for completion of

the controversial

Polavaram project.