With President Pranab Mukherjee giving his assent to the Ordinance on the controversial Polavaram multipurpose dam project according it the status of a national project, it is not yet known what stand the Odisha Government would take on the issue.  

The Polavaram project under construction in Andhra Pradesh, which has been strongly opposed by the Odisha and Chhattisgarh Governments, has now moved a step forward towards its final implementation.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said the Polavaram Project Ordinance has the consensus of all parties and, therefore, there is no need to rake up any controversy over it.

Naidu said the decision to accord national project status to the Polavaram project was taken by the UPA Government and the NDA, which had also promised the same earlier, is now only living up to its promise.

Interestingly, the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD Government, which has been crying hoarse against the project on the ground that it would submerge vast areas in Malkangiri district and lead to displacement of tribal people, is silent on the issue,

All eyes are now on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s next move on the old dispute. It is not known whether Patnaik, who is now in New Delhi, would take up the issue with the Narendra Modi Government.

But it is intriguing that the BJD, which waged a war of sorts against the project, has chosen to lie low on the new development.

The State Government has been maintaining that at least 30 villages in Malkangiri district would be submerged while several other villages are likely to be vulnerable to floods on a regular basis once the Polavaram project is operational.

While several cases filed by both Odisha and Chhattisgarh opposing the project are pending in the Supreme Court, the previous UPA Union Cabinet on May 1 decided to constitute a Polavaram Project Authority. The Odisha Government had then announced that it would challenge this decision in the Supreme Court.

However, with Polavaram Project Ordinance receiving the NDA Union Cabinet’s nod on May 27 and the Presidential giving his assent to it on Thursday, the Odisha Government is yet to come out with its reaction.

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief Chandrasekhar Rao has also been opposing the Polavaram Project Ordinance because it proposes merger of seven Mandals of Telangana with Seemandhra.