State opposes national project status to Polavaram

The Orissa government has written a letter to the Union government requesting the latter not to accord national project status to the Polavaram dam project being implemented by the Andhra Pradesh government. The letter written by the state chief secretary to the Union water resources secretary pointed out that any move to accord national project status to the project will violate the Orissa High Court judgement, which allowed the Andhra Pradesh government to proceed with the construction of embankment of the project without any land acquisition and sub-mergence. It stated that a number of controversial issues need to be sorted out and many cases are pending before the courts. Similarly, certain objections have been raised about the clearance given by the Union ministry of environment and forest to the project as the public hearing was not completed.

It may be noted, chief minister Naveen Patnaik has taken up the issue and has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh registering his opposition to the Andhra Pradesh’s efforts to get national irrigation project status for Polavaram project. Patnaik had urged Singh to ensure that the dam construction did not progress as many legal disputes relating to the project were pending before various courts and tribunals. He had also expressed his displeasure over the grant of permission to the Andhra Pradesh government by the Central government for construction of a 30 km long embankment within the Orissa territory without consulting the state in the matter.