Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha, on the 1st of July, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the ongoing construction of Polavaram Project in Andhra Pradesh (AP.)
According to Patnaik, the extension of the Polavaram Project, which is built on the Godavari river in AP, will cause permanent damage to the people residing in Odisha.
Recently, the Environment Ministry of India decided to extend the construction of the Polavaram Project.
The Polavaram Project is a multipurpose irrigation project situated on the Godavari river, in the East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh. The Project is under construction and was designed as a solution to the problem of water scarcity in the State.
With the completion of the Polavaram Project, approximately 4 crore people of the State would be benefited in the field of irrigation.
Patnaik wrote, “If the project is allowed to be completed before the resolution of all the pending cases, it will cause permanent injury to the interest of the state of Odisha and its people.”
This is not the first time the Odisha CM wrote a letter to PM Modi regarding the construction of the Polavaram Project.
Naveen Patnaik said, “I would earnestly request you to kindly intervene in the matter and give appropriate direction to stop the construction work of the Polavaram Project immediately until all the pending issues are resolved.” He further wrote, “I would like to reiterate that if the construction work on Polavaram Project is not stopped forthwith, it will have immense adverse impacts on people living in the tribal district of Malkangiri in Odisha. The submergence of the large extent of forest area would be of irreversible consequences.”
He also suggested the Government of India and the Government of Andhra Pradesh (AP) to redesign the Project without causing large scale damage to Odisha, Telangana and Chhattisgarh.
The Polavaram Project is a national project, which was started under the rule of N. Chandrababu Naidu, the President of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
As of now, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (AP,) is supervising the construction of the Polavaram Project, which is expected to finish soon.
Stay tuned for further updates.
