Naveen seeks Modi’s intervention to stop Polavaram project

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Naveen reiterated that if the construction work on Polavaram Project was not stopped forthwith, it would have immense adverse impact on the people living in the tribal district of Malkangiri in Odisha.

The submergence of tribal villages resulting in mass displacement of primitive tribals, flooding of fertile agricultural lands and submergence of large extent of forest area would have irreversible consequences, the chief minister said.

The Polavaram project, Naveen said, could be reformulated as per GWDT award without causing large scale submergence in the States of Odisha, Telangana and Chhattisgarh.

If the project is allowed to be completed before the resolution of all the pending issues, it will cause permanent injury to the interest of the state of Odisha and its people, he said.

He said the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF & CC) has kept the "Stop Work Order" in abeyance from time to time without taking the views of the state of Odisha into consideration.

Even the environmental clearance was given to the project on October 25, 2005, without conducting the public hearing in the affected areas of Malkangiri district of Odisha.

Naveen said the matter would be resolved if opportunity was given for a final resolution of the dispute pending before the Supreme Court.