If the Polavaram project is going to be executed with all its disastrous environmental effects on Odisha, it is due to the negligence of the State Government to take up the matter at appropriate time, alleged senior BJP leader and former Deputy Speaker of Assembly Rama Chandra Panda on Tuesday.
“The State Government could have utilised its resources to tap the water of the Godavari river and its tributaries on its side, before the Andhra Pradesh Government took initiatives to build the dam. After keeping mum for a decade, the State Government is shedding crocodile tears when the project is almost about to be executed at full throttle. The present hue and cry will serve no purpose except only working as a poll stunt for the BJD,”said Panda.
Panda called upon the State Government to immediately take up different diversion channels wherever possible so as to divert the Godavari water and its tributaries in the tribal belts of Odisha to meet irrigation and drinking water needs.Panda said the attitude of the State Government was no different in a few other projects as well like Chelligada and Bansadhara-Rushikullya. These two projects have been languishing for last two decades, he lamented.
Saying that the Polvaram project should act as curtain raiser for the State Government, he said Odisha must avoid its procrastination and lethargy so far as execution of other dams is concerned. He warned that if the Government did not execute the projects on a priority basis, the flood water of the Bansadhara and its tributaries will continue to cause havoc in the State.Panda also expressed deep concerns over the possible damage which the Polavaram project is likely to bring for the tribal belt of the State. He said, “For the sake of one State’s selfish end, projects like these are built without taking note of the tribal problems and the people of neighbouring Odisha. It is, therefore, necessary to hear the concerns of tribal people.”
Notably, the positive part of Polavaram project is it is supposed to irrigate huge acreage, stabilize the Godavari delta for the second and third crops and divert Godavari water to further stabilize the Krishna delta for three crops. It also hopes to provide drinking and irrigation water to north coastal Andhra.However, its negative side is the reservoir will inundate 397 tribal villages and flood thousands of acres of valuable forest land. Nearly 2.5 lakh tribal people will be displaced from their homes in Bhadrachalam alone. It will create a problem five times bigger than the Narmada Sagar dam where only 60,000 tribal people were displaced.
Keeping the magnitude of the possible loss to the people, both Chhattisgarh and Odisha Governments have moved the Supreme Court against the project. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, on February 8, 2011, had also directed the State not to start construction and reduce the dam’s height to minimize inundation. But the Seemandhra’s contention is that reducing the height of the dam will prevent diversion of Godavari water to the Krishna delta. Ironically, this controversial irrigation project will only help Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana as they will get more Krishna water allocation, sources said.