Odisha CM urges PM to halt Polavaram project construction.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cancel an order given the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for Polavaram project in July this year and stop construction of the project until all the pending issues are resolved.

“If the project is allowed to be completed before the resolution of all the pending issues, it will cause permanent injury to the interest of the State of Odisha and its people,” Mr. Patnaik wrote in a two-page letter sent to Mr. Modi on Wednesday.

“I am constrained to write this letter to draw your personal attention and intervention on the magnitude of the consequences that the people of Odisha will have to face viz. the submergence of tribal villages resulting in mass displacement of tribals, the flooding of fertile agricultural lands and submergence of large forest area, all of which can be avoided if only an opportunity is given for a final resolution of the disputes pending before the Supreme Court,” Mr. Patnaik said in his letter.The Chief Minister has suggested that the Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh can be reformulated as per Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal, without causing large-scale submergence in the States of Odisha, Telangana and Chhattisgarh.

Mentioning that public hearing in Odisha has not been carried out till date, Mr. Patnaik said that a detailed study of design, flood and the studies related to backwater extent during floods will allow to make an assessment about the exact submergence in Odisha.

In his letter, Mr. Patnaik also mentioned that he has written three letters to the Prime Minister on the issue in the past — September 16, 2015, November 28, 2017, and July 12, 2018.

THE HINDU