Dear Friends/Co-sailors,
Greetings from Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO)!
As you are aware WIO has been opposing the Polavaram Project and all other such large dams which are nothing but socio-economic and environmental disasters. Despite of opposition from the Governments of Odisha and Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradesh has been moving ahead with the disastrous Polavaram project.
Forwarding for your interest the latest news in that front where in the news paper seems to be believing that the Govt. of India is yielding to pressure of the Govt. of Odisha. We have always opposed the illegal way in which the AP government is going ahead with the project and have been demanding them to scrap the project.
The way the central government has been supporting AP in this is dubious and shows its 'open bias' towards that State and mostly towards such huge destructive engineering structures. I am sure the proposed tripartite meeting is just to convince Odisha and Chhatisgarh to agree to the devastation.
Odisha should stick to its position and call for scrapping the Polavaram project. Further, the State itself should also refrain from implementing any such disastrous projects within Odisha. Ironically, the govt. of Odisha has opposed Polavaram on grounds which it ignores when it comes to such projects promoted by it, within the state.
We are keeping a watch on the developments and will keep you updated. If you are also looking at this issue and have something to share, please do share with us. And, if you are interested to join hands with WIO in its campaigns, advocacy efforts and action programmes, please contact us at ranjanpanda@gmail.com/
Thanks and regards,
Ranjan
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Polavaram back to square one
The jinx that settled on the Indirasagar (Polavaram) Multi-Purpose Project in 1943 refuses to lift even now. On Friday, the Centre appeared to be yielding to the pressure of the Odisha government to stop the project as it might lead to submergence of large tracts of lands in the Maoist-infested Malkangiri district.
Union Minister for Water Resources Harish Rawat said in Delhi that there would be secretary-level tripartite meeting soon among the three stakeholders - Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chhattisgarh - to iron out differences and facilitate an amicable solution. He said the Odisha government had been raising a number of objections to the project.
This statement came as a dampener since the Rs 4,717-crore head works had been awarded to L1 bidder Transstroy (India) Ltd-JSC Engineering Centre UES (Russia) which began work in March.
Odisha filed a petition in the Supreme Court in 2007 seeking to make environmental and RR clearances granted to the project null and void. It has been insisting ever since that till such time as the issue is resolved in the apex court, there should not be any construction activity.
- By Express News Service - HYDERABAD 06th April 2013 07:14 AM
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