Bhubaneswar: The Congress Tuesday demanded a statement from Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi neighbouring Andhra Pradesh’s “efforts” to set up a hydropower project in Kotia, a disputed area along the border between the two states.
Congress Legislature Party Leader Rama Chandra Kadam, during the zero hour of the assembly proceedings, expressed concerns over alleged intrusion in the Kotia cluster of villages in Odisha’s Koraput district,
He also claimed that several tribal villages in the Kotia region in Odisha could be inundated for “Andhra Pradesh’s proposed 1200 MW hydropower project”.
“It is strange to know that the Odisha government is silent when the Andhra Pradesh administration is going all out to set up a hydropower project in the Kotia region. They will use Odisha’s land and water while the people in the Kotia cluster of villages will suffer. The state government’s silence has encouraged the Andhra Pradesh authorities to continue with its efforts,” Kadam said in the assembly.
The Congress leader claimed that around 1200 acres of land, comprising villages and forests, would be affected due to the proposed hydropower project and wondered “how Majhi being a tribal is unable to understand the hardship that tribal people may face in Kotia under Pottangi block of Koraput district”.
Congress MLA Raazen Ekka echoed Kadam.
“The BJP often raised Odia ‘asmita’ (pride) during elections. But now, Andhra Pradesh has been encroaching upon Odisha’s land, water and forest.
“We demand a statement from the chief minister on the issue. Let the CM inform the House whether the proposed hydropower project by Andhra Pradesh will benefit the people of Odisha,” Ekka said.
Sources in the Odisha government claimed that the “Andhra Pradesh administration has signed an MoU with the Adani Group for a 1200-MW hydroelectric power project in Manyam district near the disputed Kotia region in August 2023”.
The neighbouring state has already begun the groundwork for the project bordering Neradivalsa in the disputed Kotia panchayat, they added.
PTI
