SC tells Centre to hold talks with stakeholder states to resolve Polavaram dam issues
The Supreme Court has directed the Centre to hold talks with chief secretaries of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Chhattisgarh to resolve the issues of Polavaram irrigation project.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kaul, Abhay Oka and Vikram Nath on Tuesday held a hearing on a batch of petitions, complaining about violation of environmental laws and submergence of low-lying areas when Godavari river witnessed floods and also due to the formation of backwaters from the project.
The court observed that the Union ministries of Jal Shakti and Environment and Forests must play a pioneering role and ordered the Centre to hold a meeting with the chief secretaries of stakeholder states to resolve the contentious issues in a month’s time. The court asked for filing of the reports before it.
The court also suggested a meeting of chief ministers of these states to iron out the issues related to Polavaram and posted the case for next hearing on December 7.
States’ complaints
In its petition, Odisha complained that several agency areas were getting submerged due to the execution of the project and alleged several changes were made in the project’s design without getting requisite approval and even keeping in abeyance the ‘Stop Work Order’ issued by the Centre, for a long time.
Odisha is apprehensive that the construction of the dam by neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and the spillway would result in the submergence of considerable amount of its territory, including protected tribal areas. It has also maintained that the Polavaram project was in violation of the Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal award.
Telangana submitted that the recent floods in Godavari resulted in inundation of parts of temple town Bhadrachalam and sought strengthening of the flood banks to avoid this. The state maintained that it was not against execution of the project as per norms.
Other petitioners explained to the court the alleged violation of environmental norms in execution of the project and submergence of several tribal habitations in the erstwhile Godavari districts due to construction of the Cofferdam when the river witnessed floods recently.
AP’s submission
Andhra Pradesh submitted to the court that though it had been asking both the Chhattisgarh and Odisha governments to conduct public hearings on submergence of certain areas in their respective states with an assurance to compensate suitably, there was no proper response from both the governments.
AP counsel informed the court that the state had already spent nearly Rs 20,000 crore on execution of the project.
In June 2019, the Union Environment Ministry had given two years’ extension and allowed the construction works related to Polavaram Multipurpose project.
The Centre had stressed that the project was important to the people of Andhra Pradesh as it would irrigate nearly three lakh hectares of land, generate hydel power with installed capacity of 960 MW and provide drinking water facilities to 540 villages enroute, particularly in Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and West Godavari and Krishna districts.
Also read: Polavaram: With homes flooded, no relocation help, adivasis bear the brunt
In 2011, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had asked Andhra Pradesh to stop construction work on the project. However, in 2014, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government declared Polavaram a national project.
The Polavaram project envisages the construction of an earth-cum-rock fill dam across the Godavari. The maximum height of the dam would be 48 metres.