Plead with him for scrapping project at present height
The House Committee on inter-state dispute on Polavaram-Indira Sagar project headed by Assembly Speaker Niranjan Pujari on Tuesday decided to meet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi by end of August and submit a memorandum for scrapping of the controversial project which would cause large-scale damage to Odisha, particularly to the tribal populace.
The first meeting of the House Committee on Polavaram was held under chairmanship of Pujari and took up the issue relating to the multi-purpose and multi-crore irrigation project being constructed by Andhra Pradesh. It took objection to the proposed height of the dam.
Of the 25 members, 20 including five Ministers, Debi Prasad Mishra, Bikram Keshari Arukha, Sanjaya Dasburma, Arun Kumar Sahoo and Ramesh Chandra Majhi, Government Chief Whip Anant Das, Opposition Congress Chief Whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati , BJP MlA Pradeep Purohit and MlAs of Koraput and Malkangiri etc were present at the meeting.
The panel was constituted following concern expressed by Members of the House irrespective of party affiliations on the dam project and the resultant damage to State.
Since there was no detail report relating to the project as far as the damage to be caused by the proposed project with its existing design, Water Resources Department Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra was asked to give a complete report to the committee in the next meeting, said Congress Chief Whip Bahinipati.
He informed that the Water Resources Department was also asked to prepare a memorandum with all facts to be submitted to the Prime Minister. The Committee would give final touch of the memorandum at its next meeting, he said.
The Committee also authorised the Speaker to write a letter to the Prime Minister seeking an appointment and after finalisation of the date, the Committee members along with all the MPs representing the State would meet the Prime Minister and submit a memorandum, he said.
He said the Committee through the memorandum would plead with the Prime Minister to reconsider the establishment of the Polavaram project to safeguard the interest of Odisha, particularly of the tribal people who would sustain huge loss.
Bahinipati said Congress and the ruling BJD were not against the project but were opposed to its revised design which is feared to submerge large swathes of forests and farmlands in Malkangiri district and displace a number of tribals. He said even at the height of 150 feet which was decided earlier, the dam would submerge around three villages affecting 500 tribal people in Malkangiri district. If the height was increased further it would lead to submergence of large areas and affect more people even if the Andhra Pradesh Government proposed to provide protective embankments for a length of 30 km in Odisha to avoid submergence.