Bhubaneswar, Aug. 12: An Assembly committee today decided to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi by this month end to seek his intervention in the Polavaram (Indira Sagar) irrigation project of Andhra Pradesh — which is likely to submerge some parts of Odisha.
“We will seek his appointment towards last week of this month. The Assembly secretariat will write to the Prime Minister’s Office in this regard,” said state parliamentary affairs minister Bikram Keshari Arukh.
This was the first meeting of the House committee, headed by Speaker Niranjan Pujari, after it was constituted last month.
The water resources department was today asked to prepare a detailed memorandum, which will be approved by the committee at the next meeting, said Arukh.
The panel today sought details about extent of the area of Odisha to be submerged and population to be affected by the proposed dam to be built in Andhra Pradesh, said Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati, who happens to be a member of the House committee.
The panel was formed following a unanimous demand in the Assembly during its Budget Session last month. While the BJD sought to raise the issue to whip up regional sentiment, the Congress and the BJP expressed their support to the cause in the “state’s interest”.
The committee members said they were not opposed to the project but concerned about the submergence of tribal villages of Odisha.
On July 14, BJD legislators marched to Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum to governor S.C. Jamir.
The ruling party also observed a dawn-to-dusk strike in undivided Koraput district, a large part of which is likely to be submerged by the project. In 2010, the BJD had held a rally on the issue at Malkangiri accusing the then Congress-led UPA government of supporting Andhra Pradesh unfairly in the construction of the project.
The Polavaram project has been a contentious issue with Odisha opposing it stating that it would inundate several areas of Malkangiri district bordering Andhra Pradesh. On July 11, the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment Bill) was passed in the Lok Sabha, paving the way for construction of the project over the Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh. The bill was also passed in Rajya Sabha subsequently.
“This was done arbitrarily without taking the Odisha government into confidence — which violates the Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal award and not conforming to national standards and norms,” said the memorandum presented to the governor.
“The clearances were given by the central water commission without examining whether the project is in accordance with the Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal award and without thorough technical scrutiny of the project report,” it said.
In October 2007, the Odisha government had filed a suit in the Supreme Court to declare the environmental clearance accorded by the ministry of environment and forests “null and void”.
The clearance was set aside by the National Environment Appellate Authority on December 19, 2007.
The Andhra government challenged the order in Andhra High Court, which passed an interim order suspending it. In another development, the Odisha government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking transfer of the case to the apex court.
