A demand for immediate stoppage of work on the Polavaram multi-purpose project on Godavari in Andhra Pradesh was made by the BJD in the Lok Sabha today.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, party leader Bhartruhari Mahtab said that large areas in tribal-dominated Malkangiri district of Odisha were being inundanted in the project.
He said when the work on the project started, it was assured by the government that not an inch of land in Odisha would be submerged.
Claiming that the views of Odisha were not considered by the Tribal Affairs Ministry before giving rehabilitation and resettlement clearance, Mahtab alleged that Chhattisgarh, which is also affected, was also not being consulted.
Accusing the Centre of becoming a party and not an arbitrator in the dispute over the project, he said that Odisha has now approached the Supreme Court in the matter.
