Protect rights of tribals affected by Polavaram, says Naveen

Bhubaneswar: The BJD president, Naveen Patnaik, urged party members to intensify their fight for justice on behalf of Odisha’s tribal communities, who are likely to be severely impacted because of the Polavaram dam project in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

Patnaik’s call came after a delegation of party leaders met him at his resi-dence to brief him on their recent visit to Delhi, where they raised concerns with the Centre regarding the project’s potential impacts.

In a post on X, Patnaik said, “The Polavaram project will submerge many ar-eas of Malkangiri and will greatly affect the tribal brothers and sisters. I met and discussed with the delegation of @bjd_odisha who submitted the de-mand letter to the Central Government. I advised them to continue fighting for the rights of the people. #BJDWithOdisha.”

The BJD delegation leader, Debi Prasad Mishra, said they apprised Patnaik about their interaction with Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil and senior officials from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, as well as the chairpersons of the National Com-mission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) and the Central Water Commission (CWC).

Mishra confirmed that in addition to the seven members of the delegation, the party’s seven MPs had also accompanied the team during their meetings with Central government officials.

Former MP and prominent tribal leader Pradeep Majhi said, “The BJD presi-dent informed us that he will fight for the rights of the tribal people and also asked us to continue the fight. The party will launch an agitation from Janu-ary demanding justice for the people of Malkangiri, particularly the tribals who will be affected by the Polavaram project.” Pradeep Majhi, who hails from Nabarangpur district, claimed that the Polavaram project would sub-merge around 200 tribal villages in Motu and Podia blocks of Malkangiri district due to the backwater created by the dam. He also highlighted the po-tential environmental damage, noting that a large area of flora and fauna in Malkangiri will be submerged by Godavari river’s backwaters.

The BJD has planned a series of agitations across the State, starting in Mal-kangiri district. Additionally, the party is organising demonstrations in Delhi.

Pradeep Majhi further claimed that the Centre is being pressured by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to continue the project, as the TDP has become a key ally of the BJP after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Centre has allocated Rs 12,000 crore in its 2024 budget for the comple-tion of the Polavaram project, according to BJD leaders.

The BJD emphasised that the project was conceived under Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal (GWDT) resolution, which set the framework for agree-ments between Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.

However, the party argued that significant changes had been made to the original design, particularly regarding the flood discharge capacity of the dam, which was increased from 36 lakh cusecs to 50 lakh cusecs without suf-ficient consideration for the backwater impacts in the upstream States of Od-isha and Chhattisgarh.

The BJD said Patil assured the delegation that Odisha’s concerns regarding the Polavaram project would be taken seriously.

“The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is committed to conducting a detailed evalua-tion of the Polavaram project’s impact on tribal communities, including the potential displacement, loss of agricultural land and socio-economic chal-lenges. The minister pledged to take proactive steps to mitigate these ad-verse effects,” the BJD statement said.