New Delhi/Bhubaneswar, Sept. 30: The Supreme Court today admitted separate applications moved by Odisha, Karnataka and Maharashtra challenging the Polavaram project, which is being constructed by Andhra Pradesh and has been declared a "national project" by the Union government.

The court has asked the Andhra Pradesh and central governments to file their replies within four weeks.

The project, being constructed in Andhra Pradesh, plans to irrigate 3,14,718 hectares and generate 960MW power. Odisha has challenged the project in the Supreme Court stating that its vast areas in the bordering Malkangiri district would be submerged if the project comes up. Apart from Odisha, Karnataka and Maharashtra have also expressed concern over the project's impact as they fear that it would inundate some of the districts in their respective states as well. The central government has declared the Polavaram irrigation project as a national project and decided to fully finance it.

The development came on a day when the BJD here geared up for a 12-hour strike it had planned tomorrow in seven southern districts of Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada and Nabarangpur protesting against Andhra Pradesh's "unilateral action" over Polavaram without taking Odisha's concerns into account. The Naveen Patnaik government, which is miffed over the NDA government's decision to finance the project, contends that the Polavaram dam would submerge 25 habitations in Motu tehsil of the state's tribal-dominated Malkangiri district and inundate around 7,656 hectares of agriculture and forestland.

"Despite the fact that the matter was in the Supreme Court, the then UPA government had granted environmental clearance for the project. After the NDA government came to power, it not only accorded national status to the project, but also announced to fund it, which is very unfortunate," said BJD vice-president Surya Narayan Patro.

A BJD spokesperson said that today's development in the Supreme Court would silence the opponents in the state. Congress and BJP leaders, however, continued to target chief minister Naveen Patnaik despite this. "We would have been convinced had they got a stay order from the court," said Opposition leader Narasingha Mishra. Former state BJP president Suresh Pujari said that though his party was always ready to fight for the state's interest, the Polavaram issue could have been resolved long ago had the state government moved the Supreme Court in time.

With rural polls due early next year, the BJD has been trying to whip up public sentiment over Polavaram. On September 14, the party had organised a sit-in outside the Raj Bhavan to highlight the issue. While tomorrow's strike would take the battle forward, the party also plans to raise the issue along with the Mahanadi water dispute during its state-wide march beginning October 2. The state BJP would seek to counter the ruling party's move with a "Lajja Satyagraha" on the same day.