Prove Polavaram will affect Orissa: Kharabela

BHUBANESWAR: President of Utkal Bharat party Kharabela Swain today dared the Government to prove that Polavaram multi-purpose irrigation project will adversely affect the State.

 ‘’The ruling BJD is trying to divert the attention of the people from the Vedanta fiasco by raking up the Polavaram issue,’’ Swain told a media conference here after verifying facts with the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).

 The Government is using the Polavaram issue as a tactic to divert the attention of the people after it failed to provide bauxite mining lease at Niyamgiri to Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL). The Centre refusing to grant permission for bauxite mining at Niyamgiri was a huge embarrassment for the  Government. He alleged that the BJD had taken huge funds from Vedanta during the last general election.

 He claimed that the State Government has not conducted any study on the likely impact of the Polavaram project on Orissa.

 On October 26, 2009, Swain said, the MoEF asked the Andhra Pradesh Government to submit a detailed plan for checking submergence in Orissa and Chhattisgarh following objections from the two states.

 In response to the MoEF request, the Andhra Pradesh Government said the  project was redesigned to prevent possible submersion of any area of Orissa  and Chhattisgarh by constructing embankments along the rivers Sabari and Sileru. The Central Water Commission (CWC) accorded techno-economic approval to the project after being satisfied by the proposal. The protection embankments will be constructed and maintained under the guidance of the CWC.

 While granting final approval to the project on July 28, the MoEF laid down  conditions that the Andhra Pradesh Government will ensure that no submergence and displacement of people, including Scheduled Tribes, takes place in the territories of Orissa and Chhattisgarh.

 The user agency will also ensure that in no case there should be any  submergence of forest land in Orissa and Chhattisgarh. Submergence of forest  land will tantamount to violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, and no land has been diverted for submergence.

 This was also indicated in the  August 18 letter of MoEF Minister Jairam Ramesh to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.