Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the main opposition party in Odisha, has decided to send a team to visit and assess the impact of the under-construction Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh on neighbouring areas in Odisha.
The BJD team will be headed by Atanu Sabyasachi Naik and will comprise Devi Prasad Mishra, Pradeep Majhi, Bhrigu Baxipatra and BJD leaders in Malkangiri. The team will visit the Polavaram project and adjoining areas and submit a report to the BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik.
As per reports, the Andhra Pradesh government’s Polavaram project may bring misery to people in various districts of Odisha, especially Malkangiri district. Odisha is unlikely to gain anything from this project but will lose a lot. As a result, Odisha has been opposing the project since its commencement.
Chhattisgarh has also opposed the Polavaram project. Despite former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s proposal to the Andhra Pradesh government to compensate inhabitants of Odisha who will be impacted by the project, the then Andhra Chief Minister YS Rajashekhar Reddy had claimed that the project would not harm the people of Odisha. However, as Naveen persisted in his claim, the conflict started to intensify. After 2010, Odisha and Chhattisgarh governments filed separate petitions in the Supreme Court on the issue.
It was alleged that the Andhra Pradesh government was proceeding with the Polavaram project without obtaining proper approvals from the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Central Water Commission. Later, an agreement was signed by the Governments of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh under the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal. Consequently, Andhra Pradesh got approval for the project.
On the other hand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh filed a complaint in the Supreme Court saying that the problem of water logging will not be solved as the water storage capacity of the reservoir has been increased. It was noted that many areas of Odisha will be submerged forever.
