Union Minister of Water Resources Harish Rawat on Thursday informed Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik that a meeting of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh officials would be convened to sort out the pending issues on Andhra Pradesh’s Polavaram Irrigation Project.
Rawat while appreciating the concern of the Odisha Government in this regard said the proposed meeting would be convened under the chairmanship of the Secretary, Union Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) and would be attended by the concerned departmental Secretaries of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
Patnaik referred to various reports on finalisation of tenders for civil works of the Polavaram Project by the Andhra Pradesh Government. The project work is continuing despite the fact that the matter is subjudice and the Ministry of Environment & Forests has issued a ‘Stop Work’ order for the project, he stated.
The Chief Minister asserted that there are a number of pending critical issues relating to the project including reservoir operation schedule, placement of embankments, submersion of forestland, displacement of tribal population and incorrect backwater computation.
He suggested that Union Government do not allow execution of the project till these conflicting issues are resolved through mutual consultations.
He also informed Rawat that a substantial amount of Central assistance for the year 2012-13 is pending for release to Odisha under various schemes including the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme, Command Area Development & Water Management Programme and Repair, Renovation & Restoration Scheme. These proposals are pending despite recommendation by the Regional Office of the Central Water Commission, Bhubaneswar, he stated.
Patnaik impressed upon the Union Minister to release an amount of Rs 563.15 crore due to the State under various schemes before March 31. A number of factors including law and order problems in the Maoist-affected areas and delay in forest and environment clearances have adversely affected the execution of 11 major and medium irrigation projects in the State, he mentioned.
He also requested Rawat to approve the balance 440 projects under the Repair, Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies Scheme sanctioned in April, 2010.
Rawat informed that his Ministry is pursuing with the Ministry of Finance to release funds for the Kanupur and Anandapur Barrage projects. He also assured that he would recommend release of funds for the three other projects, Upper Indravati, Telengiri and Subarnarekha.
For the Ret project, the Ministry has sought investment clearance from the Planning Commission, he stated. He assured Patnaik that the Central Water Commission would be asked to expedite the proposal to release Rs 6.07 crore under the Flood Management Programme.
Regarding 786 new water bodies proposed by the State and recommended by the Regional Office of the Central Water Commission, Bhubaneswar and 440 balance projects sanctioned in April, 2010 under Repair, Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies (RR&R) Scheme, the Union Minister promised that the proposal would be sanctioned after the approval of the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) on continuation of the scheme during the 12th Five-Year Plan.
Rawat desired that the State should submit a detailed proposal for seeking extension of time for 11 ongoing major and medium projects, specifying the reasons for the delay in their execution in the KBK and Maoist-affected areas to enable his Ministry to recommend extension in relaxation of the latest guidelines.