Vijayawada: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has urged the Centre to stop work on the Polavaram project immediately. In a letter addressed to Union minister for environment, forest and climate change Dr Harsha Vardhan, on Saturday, Mr Patnaik demanded that the work should be halted till the issues raised by Odisha are resolved.
The consent of Odisha was never taken when the AP government and the Central Water Commission changed the design parameters of the Polavaram project, Mr Patnaik stated in his letter and added that the Centre, in its office memorandum dated August 16, 2016, had kept the “Stop Work Order” (SWO) in abeyance for a period of one more year with effect from July 3, 2016, subject another office memorandum dated June 23, 2015. “I must mention that the state of Odisha is not being informed of the issue of SWO being kept in abeyance... thus allowing the construction of Polavaram head works and distribution system uninterruptedly,” Mr Patnaik said.
The Odisha CM said that he had addressed letters to the Prime Minister on September 16, 2015, and November 28, 2017, and added that he has mentioned that the MoEF&CC had kept the SWO in abeyance from time to time, without informing Odisha, which would be severely affected due to the construction of Polavaram project.
“In my previous letters to the PM, I have mentioned that if the project is completed before resolution of all the pending issues, it will lead to a situation which will permanently affect a large number of tribal people in Odisha,” Mr Patnaik said.
The project construction is in violation of the Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal’s award, and added that it was being constructed without correctly assessing the backwater extent in the Sabari and Sileru limbs in the territory of Odisha. The Odisha government has filed an original suit No.4 of 2007 against the project construction in the SC, and the matter was subjudice, he stated.
The environmental clearance (EC) was granted in 2005 though no public hearing was conducted in the Malkangiri district of Odisha, which would be severely affected due to the construction of the project in its present form, Mr Patnaik said. The EC was put aside by the National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA) on December 19, 2007.
“The NEAA has directed conducting a public gearing in the affected areas of Odisha, and Chhattisgarh,” he said and added that the orders of NEAA were suspended by the High Court of AP.
Later, governments of Odisha and Chhattisgarh had filed a transfer petition before the Supreme Court with a request to transfer the writ petition pending before the AP High Court to the Supreme Court, Mr Patnaik stated and added that Supreme Court had accept the petitions.
However, the MoEF&CC, in its office memorandum June 23, 2015, had decided to keep the SWO in abeyance, for one year based on the letter of the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister dated April 25, 2015, subject to several conditions, Mr Patnaik said The reservoir is bound to be impounded, as the construction of the dam along with the spillway is going in full swing, which will result in submergence in the territory of Odisha, he said.
