Bhubaneswar: In what could be seen as another example of the Center’s step motherly attitude towards Odisha, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has once again agreed to the demands of Andhra Pradesh to keep the “Stop Work” order in abeyance with regard to the Polavaram Project for another two years till the disputed project is completed.
This unilateral decision by the Center in consonance with the Andhra Pradesh is going to hurt Odisha and other states that are demanding for stoppage of work till the matter is resolved in the Apex Court.
The Center on Thursday extended its previous orders for keeping in abeyance the Stop Work order by two years till the end of December 2023 for execution of the Polavaram Project on the request of the Andhra Pradesh. The center has been continuously extending the abeyance order since 2011 without taking into account the concerns of Odisha or Chhattisgarh.
Odisha has been continuously demanding the Center stop the construction work at the Polavaram Project over river Godavari until all the pending issues are resolved. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Environment many times in this regard but the Center has been neglecting Odisha.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2019 requesting his intervention and stoppage of all construction work at the project till the issues are resolved. In his letter, the CM wrote “If the project is allowed to be completed before the resolution of the pending issues, it will cause permanent injury to the interest of Odisha and its people,”.
He also mentioned that “I would like to reiterate that if the construction work on Polavaram project is not stopped forthwith, it will have immense adverse impact on the people living in the tribal-dominated Malkangiri district,”.
Naveen had said that the submergence of tribal villages resulting in mass displacement of primitive tribals, flooding of fertile agricultural land and submergence of large extent of forest area would be irreversible consequences of the dam project.
Odisha has been continuously saying that this can be avoided if an opportunity is given for a final resolution of the dispute pending before the Supreme Court. Odisha is also maintaining that the Polavaram project can be reformulated as per the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal award without causing large scale displacement.
The Polavaram Project, once completed, will submerge tribal villages in the agency areas resulting in mass displacement of the vulnerable primitive tribes. It will also submerge fertile land and vast extents of green forests in Odisha.