Bhubaneswar, Sept. 8: With the Polavaram project igniting political controversies in the state, Orissa has stepped up its campaign against Andhra Pradesh accusing it of violating the 1978 inter-state agreement and changing the design of the dam’s spillway to raise its capacity by 14 lakh cusecs.

“The spillway, according to the 1978 agreement, was supposed to discharge 36 lakh cusecs of water per second. They changed the design in 2007 raising the volume of the discharge to 50 lakh cusecs. This is going to impact us badly,” said a top-level official of the water resource department.

The project, which has been challenged by Orissa in the Supreme Court, threatens to inundate cultivable land in at least 10 villages of the state’s tribal-dominated Malkangiri district.

“This includes 2,000 acres falling in the command area of Potteru irrigation project,” said Harish Chandra Behera, the engineer-in-chief of water resources department.

Behera added: “Even in the original design, the discharge of 36 lakh cusecs from the spillway was agreed, on condition that a dam would be built upstream of the river Godavari at Inchampalli, which is yet to materialise. We see a threat because all these were flood moderation measures that have not been followed. On the other hand the design of the spillway has been changed. But the Central Water Commission still continues to support Andhra Pradesh blindly on the project.”

Referring to Orissa’s objections to the Andhra government’s proposal for the construction of embankments on Sabari and Sileru — the tributaries of Godavari flowing through Malkangiri — sources in the department said the state in the past agreed to such a move provided the maximum reservoir level at Mottu and Konta was 150 feet.

“However, with the project design changing that is no longer a possibility. We firmly believe that embankments are not going to solve the problem of inundation,” said a senior official.

Orissa is also annoyed with its neighbour in the south for trying to implement the project without holding mandatory public hearings in the Malkangiri villages that are going to be affected by the project.

“There has been no such hearing so far. We must also keep in mind that Malkangiri is an area with a sizeable population of tribals where Panchayat (Extension To Scheduled Areas) Act can be invoked,” reminded Behera.

The controversy having acquired distinct political overtones, ruling party politicians are missing no opportunity of Centre-bashing as the Congress-ruled UPA is being seen as blatantly supporting Andhra government on Polavaram.