Bhubaneswar, October 10, 2017: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik on Tuesday requested his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu
to stop the ongoing Polavaram dam work immediately till issues concerning
Odisha are resolved. 
“It is reliably learnt that construction of the Polavaram
Project is going on at a rapid pace without correctly
assessing the design flood and backwater extent in Malkangiri
District of Odisha, which is in violation of the Godavari
Water Dispute Tribunal (GWDT) Award and is
also not conforming to the national standards /norms,” Patnaik said in a
letter to Naidu.
Maintaining that the
Ministry of Environment,
Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) vide its Office Memorandum
dated 23.06.2015 had decided to keep the ‘stop work order’ in abeyance for one year
based on the request of AP CM vide
his letter dated 25.04.2015 subject to several conditions, Patnaik said one of
the conditions mentioned in this Memorandums that the AP Government, which had earlier assured not to impound the
reservoir of the Project till the
issues raised by Chhattisgarh and Odisha are resolved, should not
impound the reservoir without specific permission from the MoEF&CC.
Ministry of Environment,
Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) vide its Office Memorandum
dated 23.06.2015 had decided to keep the ‘stop work order’ in abeyance for one year
based on the request of AP CM vide
his letter dated 25.04.2015 subject to several conditions, Patnaik said one of
the conditions mentioned in this Memorandums that the AP Government, which had earlier assured not to impound the
reservoir of the Project till the
issues raised by Chhattisgarh and Odisha are resolved, should not
impound the reservoir without specific permission from the MoEF&CC.
“The MoEF&CC vide its
aforementioned Office Memorandum had kept the ‘stop work
order’ in abeyance for a period
of one year only, i.e. upto 22.06.2016. However, the construction work on Polavaram
project is going on without any further
permission by MoEF&CC, as per
records available with Odisha. No efforts have also been made to resolve the
issues relating to the Odisha,” the Odisha CM stated.
aforementioned Office Memorandum had kept the ‘stop work
order’ in abeyance for a period
of one year only, i.e. upto 22.06.2016. However, the construction work on Polavaram
project is going on without any further
permission by MoEF&CC, as per
records available with Odisha. No efforts have also been made to resolve the
issues relating to the Odisha,” the Odisha CM stated.
“In view of the above, it is requested that the construction work
of the Polavaram Project should be stopped immediately and the work may not
recommence till the issues concerning the State of Odisha are resolved,”
Patnaik requested.
of the Polavaram Project should be stopped immediately and the work may not
recommence till the issues concerning the State of Odisha are resolved,”
Patnaik requested.
Patnaik’s letter to Naidu came a few days after Union Road
Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister
N Chandrababu Naidu inspected one of the biggest multipurpose projects in the
country at Polavaram project site in Andhra Pradesh’s West Godavari district to
take stock of the ongoing work.
Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister
N Chandrababu Naidu inspected one of the biggest multipurpose projects in the
country at Polavaram project site in Andhra Pradesh’s West Godavari district to
take stock of the ongoing work.