Telangana observes shutdown over passage of Polavaram Bill

Telangana observed shutdown on Saturday to protest the passing of a Bill in the Lok Sabha that paves the way for merger of villages with Andhra Pradesh.

Activists of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Communist Party of India (CPI), and Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) took to streets in Khammam district in Telangana to protest against the construction of Polavaram irrigation project and the passing of Polavaram Bill for transferring over 200 villages to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

The Bill allows the merger of some villages of Telangana with Andhra Pradesh to prevent any inter-state dispute.

On Friday the Lok Sabha passed the Bill to turn the ordinance into an Act. It had already been approved by previous government of Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) earlier this year.

The political parties staged a peaceful protest on Saturday to ensure the safety of displaced farmers, which as per the people of Telangana, is a farce to cover the favour that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is doing to the corporate sector.

"Their (BJP) attitude is served only to the corporate sector. So here in Telangana people and Khammam district people oppose the Narendra Modi attitude. Yesterday, in the Lok Sabha (lower house) passed the bill of the Polavaram ordinance. It is very undemocratic method. They said India is most democratic country in the world, but in the Lok Sabha there is no discussion," said a worker of CPI-M, Brahmachari.

In Hyderabad, shops and educational institutions were closed as a mark of protest and also buses went off roads in some districts.

An ordinance was promulgated by the BJP government last month to merge some villages in a bid to deal with resettlement and rehabilitation those displaced by the Polavaram power project.

The tribal communities affected by the Polavaram project are up in arms against the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Ordinance, promulgated by the Narendra Modi government.

Polavaram Project named 'Indira Sagar' is a multi-purpose irrigation project across the Godavari River and it is said that it would submerge agricultural land and forest land in Odisha.

First envisaged by India's British rulers back in 1941, the Polavaram project is to divert large quantities of water through a 174-kilometer link canal to the river Krishna.

Following the objections by Odisha and Chhattisgarh, the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal was initiated in 1980 and an agreement was reached to enable the construction of the project under certain modified specifications.

However, on its part, the Andhra Pradesh government finalised the tenders for the project, over the River Godavari, even as the petitions filed by the governments of Chhattisgarh and Odisha were still pending in the apex court.