The Orissa government has decided to go to the Supreme Court against the Andhra Pradesh government’s move to get ‘national project’ status for the Polavaram dam project.
The state government has already written letters to the Central Water Commission (CWC), Department of water resources, Government of India (GoI) urging them not to allow Andhra Pradesh government to go ahead with the project. It is in the process of filing an additional writ petition in the Supreme Court pertaining to the matter, sources said.
The government also intends to attach the expert opinion on the possible submergence of Orissa villages due to the upcoming dam project. “ We have already written to the Centre and the Central Water Commission (CWC) for not allowing the Andhra Pradesh government to go ahead with the project. We are thinking of filing an additional writ in the Supreme Court in the matter”, Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, secretary, water resources told Business Standard.
Sources said, the state government has roped in the services of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorke to prepare a report on the possible submergence of Orissa villages due to the dam project, which is being set up over river Godavari in the west Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. The writ petition will seek to argue that the dispute pertaining to Polavaram project is far from being over with a number of writ petitions pending before the Supreme Court. The implementation of the project will also violate the Orissa High Court judgement which allowed the Andhra government to proceed with the construction of embankment of the project without any land acquisition and submergence in Orissa.
Since this is practically impossible and the flows leading to the river will create submergence, Orissa government will draw the attention of the Supreme Court in the matter. The state government may proceed with filing an additional writ without the expert’s opinion, sources added. The Orissa government argued that allowing national project status to this dam project, as sought by Andhra Pradesh government, will violate the CWC guidelines in the matter. The guidelines say, the dam project must be inter-state in nature and it needs to have an ayacut of 2 lakh hectares. Though the project is built on an inter-state river, the project can not be termed as inter-state as it will only benefit Andhra Pradesh government.
Similarly, the Orissa government agreed for discharge of 36,000 cusec flood water, which has now increased to 50,000 cusecs. Though a dam project on river Godavari was planned at Inchampalli in the upper stream of the river, that project didn’t come up. The enhanced flood water discharge capacity requires the change in rule curves and infrastructure. In this backdrop, the writ petition will emphasise that the project is not technically feasible for being accorded ‘national project’.
The chief minister Naveen Patnaik has already taken up the issue and has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month registering his protest against Andhra Pradesh government’s efforts to get national irrigation project status for Polavaram project.