Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 14: The ruling BJD staged a mass demonstration near Raj Bhawan here Wednesday protesting against the Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh.
Party leaders submitted a memorandum to Governor SC Jamir and sought President Pranab Mukherjee’s intervention to resolve the dispute.
In its memo, BJD strongly opposed the environmental clearance given to the project during UPA regime and Centre’s recent move to fully fund the project after according it a national status.
According to BJD leaders, several villages of Malkangiri district would be submerged if the project is materialised in its present form.
A total of 25 habitations including 15 revenue villages and 10 hamlets will be submerged and 7,656 hectares of land — including 3469 hectares of reserve forest land, 2069 hectares of village forest and 2046.36 hectares of cultivable land — will be inundated if the Andhra Pradesh government increases the height of the Polavaram dam to 220 feet. The memo further states that 6,818 persons, including 5,916 tribals, will be displaced due to the project.
Thousands of BJD activists along with party leaders and ministers protested near Raj Bhawan against the Centre seeking immediate halt of the project work.
“The Centre has accorded national status to the project and decided to bear all expenses for the construction even as a case related on this controversial project is sub-judice in the Supreme Court. The move is clearly anti-Orissa and we want President of India to intervene in this issue,” said food supplies and consumer welfare minister Sanjay Das Burma.
Notably, it is the second time the party has submitted a memo to the Governor over this raging issue. Previously it had submitted a memo to Governor in January.
Meanwhile, the BJP which observed September 14 as “Lajja diwas” to highlight the shortcomings of the 16-year BJD rule, especially in its fourth term said that ‘inefficiency’ of the state government led to the dispute.
