SC refuses to stay Polavaram dam construction, orders scrutiny

The Supreme Court today turned down Orissa’s plea to stay construction of the controversial Polavaram dam by Andhra Pradesh and directed former Central Water Commission (CWC) member M Gopalakrishnan to inspect the project along with CWC and submit separate reports to it.

A bench of justices Mukundakam Sharma and A R Dave said Gopalakrishnan would inspect the dam along with present CWC members and submit their reports to the apex court by July 19, the next date of hearing.

The apex court, however, refused to entertain Orissa’s plea for staying the dam’s construction, saying “it will be difficult for us to stay the construction at this stage.”

The bench’s remark came in response to a plea by senior counsel Raju Ramachandran, appearing for Orissa, who insisted that the the work should be stopped pending submission of the expert panel’s report. When the counsel insisted on the stay, the apex court said it can be demolished later if it was found to be built in violation of norms.

The counsel continued to plead that the construction should be stopped as it would not be possible to demolish the dam at a later stage as expectations would be built among the beneficiaries.