Bhubaneswar: The “fact-finding” team sent by the BJD to study the impact of the Polavaram project in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on adjoining Odisha districts has submitted its report to the BJD president and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The team led by former Odisha minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak visited the Motu and Padia tehsils of Malkangiri district in Odisha and assessed the likely impact of the project on the district.
The report highlighted the concerns and anxiety of the locals over the project. It said, “The residents of the Motu and Padia blocks are facing a grave threat to their lives, livelihoods, and cultural heritage due to the potential submergence to be caused by the project.”
The people in the region are apprehensive that they would be forced to leave their homestead due to the recent budgetary allocation by the central government and the Centre’s commitment to complete the project by February 2026, the report said. According to a modest estimate, the project is likely to affect 200 villages in the Motu and Podia blocks.
It is worth mentioning here that the Polavaram project, launched by the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Neelam Sanjeev Reddy in 1961, is being developed on the Godavari river in Polavaram mandala of Andhra Pradesh’s Eluru district. It aims to irrigate over 4.3 lakh hectares of land and generate 960 MQ of hydroelectricity. In addition, it will supply drinking water to nearly 30 lakh people in 611 villages in Andhra Pradesh.
